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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


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STATES'  PHILOSOPHY, 
STATES'  ECONO.NtY, 


AND 


STATES'  FINANCES, 


Inseparable  but  Distinct  Sciences. 


BY 

IGNATIUS  BATORY, 

BALTIMORE  MD. 

PRICE    50    CENTS. 


UAI/ILMlJltK: 
'I'he  Sun  Hook  and  Job  IVintliiKOdlce. 


COPYRIGHTED,  1893, 
BY    IGNATIUS    BATORY,    BALTIMORE,  MD 


HB 
1 7/.  7 

B3^s 


INTRODUCTORY. 


F'or  over  a  century,  mankind  has  striven  to 
obtain  the  knowledge,  how,  and  through  what 
means,  it  could  be  accomplished,  that  each  and 
every  individual  might  be  enabled,  through  his 
physical  or  mental  capacity,  to  obtain  an  easy 
mode  of  making  a  living. 

And  to  the  present  day  we  have  only  succeeded 
in  laying  a  deeper  foundation  for  such  a  desire 
and  a  broader  basis  for  its  future  success. 

For  while  in  the  past  there  were  but  few  who 
were  exercised  upon  the  problem,  this  day  there 
are  millions,  whose  noble  aim  it  is  to  accomplish 
the  desired  object,  and  nearly  everbody  feels  the 
need  of  such  reform  in  the  construction  of  society. 

The  evil  has  become  so  fully  developed  that 
those  who  create  nothing  live  and  enjoy  the  fruits 
of  physical  and  mental  labor,  where  those  who 
create  everything  barely  retain  for  themselves  an 
almonishary  existence. 

The  machinery  through  which  this  system  has 
been  fostered  in  the  past  was  the  law-making 
power,  in  the  hands  of  the  few,  commonly  known 
as  the  i)ri\ileged  classes,  and  supporletl  b\'  phj'sical 

567082 


power  in  the  shape  of  standhig  armies  under  the 
control  of  rigid  laws,  commonly  called  "army 
regulations,"  enacted  by  the  same  authority  and 
controlled  by  the  same  interested  parties.  All  laws 
were  then  enacted  for  the  sole  purpose  of  enriching 
the  few  and  impoverishing  the  many.  The  people 
were  taught  to  believe  that  they  were  subjects  and 
had  no  rights  but  what  they  may  receive  by  the 
deignity  of  the  parties  in  power. 

A  system  of  roboth,  known  in  the  English 
language  as  soccagc  setincc,  sometimes  called  fief, 
and  sometimes  called  a  royalty,  but  by  whatever 
name  you  may  call  it,  the  result  and  object  was 
the  same,  namely :  to  take  from  physical  and 
mental  labor  all  that  could  be  exacted,  which 
caused  the  concentration  of  all  the  material  wealth 
in  the  hands  of  a  few,  to  the  detriment  and  suffer- 
ing of  the  many. 

The  simple  fact  that  the  result  has  proven  an 
accumulation  of  enormous  wealth  in  the  hands  of 
the  few  has  aroused  the  people  in  those  times  to 
action,  and  the  system  was  gradually  broken,  but 
the  same  men  retaining  the  legislative  power  in 
their  hands,  have  gradually  shaped  legislation  in 
a  manner  and  have  accomplished  the  same  end  in 
an  indirect  way,  namely  :  through  the  system  of 
indirect  taxation. 


5 

When  the  framers  of  our  form  of  government 
had  undertaken  to  free  this  continent  from  the 
EngHsh,  they  were  instigated  by  the  same  course, 
namely  :  "  the  attempt  by  the  men  in  power  to  levy 
extraordinary  taxes."  From  this  attempt  and  from 
this  course  sprung  the  Declaration  of  American 
Independence,  and  the  consequent  Republican  form 
of  government.  A  simple  and  cheap  government. 
The  object  of  the  f ranters  of  our  government  zaas  a 
cheap  government  and  happy  people. 

The  aim  of  the  people  at  that  age  was  already 
directed  to  establish  a  form  of  government  that 
might  enable  each  and  every  individual  to  gain 
an  easy  mode  of  making  a  living,  through  his 
physical  and  mental  capacity. 

The  desire  and  aim  of  all  good  men  of  our 
present  generation  is  the  same.  But  how  to 
accomplish  it  is  the  great  question. 

Some  propose  to  obtain  thrs  desirable  result 
through  the  establishment  of  supreme  authority  in 
communes. 

Others  have  advocated  socialism,  something  of 
the  character  and  nature  of  our  trades  unions  and 
Knights  of  Labor,  l)ut  they  have  failed  to  prove 
practicable,  .ind  the  problem  is  not  solved  yet  to 
this  day. 

The  framers  of  our  U)\u\  of   government  have 
upon  this  question  mainly  relied  upon  the  principle 


of  self-government  for  its  accomplishment,  of  which 
they  gave  proof  by  asserting  in  the  outstart  that 
their  object  was  to  secure  safety  to  life,  liberty  and 
the  pursuits  of  Jiappiness,  securing  to  the  people 
the  safety  of  life  and  the  liberty  of  action  that 
they,  the  people,  may  secure  to  themselves  and  pos- 
terity the  pursuits  of  happiness.  Idem  est — an  easy 
mode  of  making  a  living.  From  the  above  facts 
it  would  be  convincing  to  every  candid  mind,  that 
it  is  the  duty  of  every  one  in  society,  who  esteems 
the  worth  and  moral  of  the  above  precepts  or 
teachings,  as  left  to  us  as  an  inheritance  by  our 
ancestors,  to  co-operate  for  their  accomplishment. 

We  propose  to  give  you  advice,  through  which 
advice  you  will  be  enabled  to  possess  yourself  of 
the  key  (to  unlock  the  mysterious  chalice  out  of 
which  society  has  and  does  yet  drink  so  bitterly) 
that  will  enable  you  to  solve  the  mystery. 

We  do  not  intend  to  bring  proof  from  other 
sources  for  the  correctness  of  our  conceived 
knowledge,  for  we  claim  to  be  original  in  our  con- 
ceived ideas,  consequently  we  have  no  predeces- 
sors to  cite  from  upon  this  all-absorbing  social 
science.  But  we  kindly  ask  your  deliberate  con- 
sideration, satisfied  that  we  are  able  to  convince 
you  on  all  reasonable  questions  involved,  satisfac- 
torily, and  to  gain  your  convincement. 


For  you  will  perceive  from  the  foregoing,  that 
from  time  to  time,  from  generation  to  generation, 
the  few  have  managed  to  live  upon  the  expense 
and  ruin  of  the  many; — the  people. 

You  will  perceive  also  that  the  means  emplo)cd 
to  accomplish  such  end  was  the  legislative  power. 
For  the  maxim,  that  all  that  is  good  and  all  that 
is  evil  in  society  emanates  from  legislation,  is  true. 

You  will  also  perceive  that  society  did  only 
move  in  opposition  when  wealth  and  power  became 
concentrated  and  all-powerful  by  corrupting  public 
men,  to  influence  legislation.  We  are  in  such  a 
condition  again. 

You  will  also  perceive  that  the  people  failed  to 
remove  the  evil  from  the  inability  to  find  a  practi- 
cal remedy. 

You  will  also  perceive  that  the  fathers  and 
framers  of  our  institutions  and  of  our  government 
mainly  relied  upon  the  right  of  franchise,  as 
secured  by  the  constitution,  for  the  gradual  accom- 
plishment of  the  desired  object  expressed  in  the 
sentence,  "pursuit  of  happiness." 

You  cannot  help  perceiving  also  that  we  have 
failed  till  this  day  to  .secure  the  avowed  object, 
namely  :  to  obtain  an  easy  mode  of  making  a 
living.  And  the  failure  results  from  the  same  causes 
and  through  the  same  channels,  namel)'  :  the  con- 
nivance and  corru[)tion  of  the   men  in  office  ;    and 


8 


to-day  we  are  exhausted  through  means  of  cxtra- 
ordmary  indirect  taxation,  which  brings  poverty, 
corruption  and  submission  to  our  land  of  freemen. 

For  in  place  of  the  older  doctrine,  that  you 
have  no  rights  but  what  the  privileged  classes 
deign  to  grant  you,  they  have  invented  the  rule  of 
(party  nominations)  by  themselves.  They  call  this 
Democratic  or  Republican  rule,  but  the  object  is 
office,  bribes,  peculation,  rings,  contracts.  Jobs,  tnists, 
and  often  outright  robbery,  causing  enormous  outlays 
that  prevent  the  attainment  of  happiness  through  our 
pursuits  or  calling. 


PREFACE. 


1 

Take  all  the  wisdom  your  niuid  can  grasp,  the 
balance  loill  take  care  of  itself,  till  some  one  else  ivdl 
perceive  it. 

2 

Logical  conclusions  are  at  times  the  most 
ungrateful  productions.  They  are  by  others  dis- 
torted, perverted,  misconstructed,  ridiculed- 
thwarted  and  at  times  even  slandered  to  serve  an 
opposite  interest.  Therefore  each  indixidual  must 
judge  for  himself! 

3 
The  mind  of  men  is  like    fire,  it  must    have  fuel 
to    continue     to    burn.     That     fuel  is  independent 
thought. 

4 
If  you  have  attained  on  any  subject  a  conviction, 
stand  by  it,  reassever  it  under  all  circumstances, 
till  you  find  out  that  you  were  mistaken,  and  when 
that  happens,  be  man  enough,  honest  enough  to 
state  it  on  proper  occasions. 


10 


5 

State's  Economy,  in  a  free  country  like  ours, 
must  mean  increased  production  and  increased 
consumption.  Multiplication  of  the  demand  for 
labor  and  an   increased  capacity  of  consumption. 

It  must  mean  the  employment  of  all  available 
labor  in  the  community  or  nation,  increasing  the 
material  prosperity  of  the  people.  And  not  the 
prosperity  of  the  government,  corporations  or 
individuals. 

6 

To  govern  a  nation  is  a  science  "hidden  but  sure," 
and  when  properly  comprehended  and  applied,  the 
test  proves  itself  in  the  prosperity  of  the  majority  of 
the  people. 

7 
Nothing    is    more    destructive    to    the  material 
happiness  of   a  nation   than  the   ill-chosen   repre- 
sentatives to  the  legislative  bod}'. 

8 

Free  Press,  when  neither  partisan,  sectarian,  nor 
bribed,  is  the   noblest  achievement  of  civilization. 

9 

To  be  rich  and  sympathize  with  the  poor  is  one 
thing,  but  to  be  poor  itself  is  another  thing. 


II 


lO 


Create  circumstances  through  the  agency  of 
legislation  "that  will  compel  the  circulating 
medium  to  seek  income  and  profit"  through  the 
channels  of  trade,  commerce  and  agriculture  and 
shipping  direct.  And  hard  times  will  disappear 
like  the  mist,  on  the  appearance  of  the  Sun. 

1 1 

The  best  prevention  of  insanity  and  suicides  is 
centered  in  such  economic  laws  that  will  have  a 
tendency  to  increase  the  chances  and  values  of 
mental  and  ph}'sical  labor. 

12 

The  material  prosperity  of  the  laboring  people 
does  not  depend  as  much  on  the  form  of  govern- 
ment, as  on  the  character  and  aims  of  the  finan- 
cial and  fiscal  laws  that   prevail  in  the  nation. 

13 

There  is  an  inseparable  mutuality  of  interest 
between  the  laboring  man  and  the  employers  of 
labor.  The  brewers  are  interested  in  the  ample 
earnings  of  the  shoe-shop  hands,  to  enable  them 
to  consume  their  product. 

The  shoe  manufacturer  is  interested  in  the  ample 
earnings  of  the  laboring  men  that  work  in  the 
breweries,  as  it  docs  enable  them  to  buy  shoes. 


12 

The  tailors  are  also  interested  in  the  ample  earn- 
nings  of  the  shoemakers  and  the  brewery  hands, 
that  they  may  be  enabled  to  buy  clothing. 

So  are  all  (3ther  callings,  be  they  physical  or 
mental  occupations.  They  are  all  mutually 
dependent  on  the  prosperity  of  each  other. 

There  is  no  exception.  The  medical  men,  the 
minister  of  the  gospel,  the  scientist,  the  merchant, 
the  manufacturer,  the  holder  of  real  estate,  the 
whole  of  the  human  brotherhood  and  sisterhood, 
the  married  and  the  single,  are  all  mutually  inter- 
ested in  the  prosperity  of  mankind.  To  obtam 
this  desirable  end  look  to  legislation. 

Such  a  condition  of  society  could  be  best  accom- 
plished by  following  the  legislative  methods  as 
propounded  by  me  in  the  following  document, 
written  and  puhlisJicd  in  tJic  year  t86S. 


LWritteii  tnr  the  People's  Wookly,  .J<ti\n<trii  ISf//,  1868.] 

DISCUSSION    OF    THE    FINANCIAL 
QUESTIONS  OF  THE  DAY. 


BY   IGNATIUS   BATORY, 

Vtce- President  of  the  Labor  Refortn  Party  of  /he  Third 
Legislative  District. 


No.  I. 

Messrs.  Editors: 

The  great  question  of  the  times  is  the  financial ; 
all  other  questions — industry,  commerce,  agricul- 
ture, revenue,  taxation,  reconstruction,  etc. — are 
secondary,  and  in  fact  dependent  upon  the  solution 
of  the  first  named.  This  being  my  conviction,  I 
take  the  libcrt)-  of  asking  the  privilege  of  using 
your  xaluable  columns  for  the  treatment  of  the 
subject  of  finances  frcMii  a  .standpoint  (quite  novel) 
of  my  own. 

For  more  than  twenty  years  have  I  tacitly  been 
ob.serving  the  movements  of  public  men  as  leaders 
and  moulders  of  the  destinies  of  nations  ;  in  conse- 
quence of  which  observations,  I  became  convinced 
of  two  facts:  P'irst,  that  acknowledged  leaders 
are  not  always  wise  or  honest.  Second,  that  the 
above-mentioned  characteristics  are  rarely  united. 


H 

From  licnce  follows  the  partisan  spirit  in  individ- 
uals, and  consequent  incapacity  (for  doing  good) 
of  whole  bodies  of  men,  whom  they  may  lead. 

To  solve  the  financial  questions  of  our  country, 
safely  and  judiciously,  requires  wisdom  and 
honesty  combined.  Wisdom,  to  give  satisfaction 
to  both  debtors  and  creditors.  Honesty,  to  do 
justice  to  all,  the  individual  citizen  who  creates 
all  wealth,  and  the  individual  citizen  who  possesses 
and  enjoys  wealth  without  infringing  upon  the 
natural  and  lawfol  rights  of  either,  and  at  the 
same  time  secure  safety  and  stability  to  our  form 
of  government  for  all  time  coming. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  the  writer  to  criticise 
our  public  men  for  the  theories  they  have 
advanced,  in  relation  to  this  all-absorbing  ques- 
tion. It  is  sufficient  to  enumerate  the  measures 
proposed  md  advocated  by  some  of  them  and  give 
our  objections. 

The  proposed  measures  resolve  themselves  in 
the  following  :     Contraction  and  Expansion. 

First,  contraction,  as  advocated  by  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury  on  one  hand,  and  by  Honor- 
able R.  J.  Walker  on  the  other,  (in  spite  of  the 
latter's  assertion  against  contraction).  Contrac- 
tion as  proposed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
coupled  with  funding  of  debt,  retention  of  the 
national  banking  system,  and  resumption  of  specie 


15 

payments,  to  strengthen  the  government  credit, 
as  avowed  by  the  Secretary,  will  increase  the  coin 
interest  paying  liability  of  the  government,  and  at 
the  same  time  give  an  undue  advantage  to  those 
who  own  the  government  obligations  in  bonds  and 
currency.  At  the  same  time  it  will  have  a 
tendency  to  reduce  the  price  of  labor  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  enable  capital  of  this  countr}-  to  com- 
pete with  European  labor  (this  seems  to  be  the 
hidden  object  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury), 
at  the  expense  of  the  misery  that  inevitably  would 
befall  the  industrial  and  agricultural  classes  of  the 
nation.  I'or  to  admit,  for  a  moment,  that  capital 
in  America,  being  secure  of  six  per  cent,  interest 
in  gold  for  a  time  coming,  as  a  minimum  rate  of 
interest,  will  be  able  to  compete  with  capital  in 
ICurope,  that  is  worth  but  three  per  cent,  is  pre- 
posterous, and  can  be  onl\-  accomplished  through 
the  agency  of  cheapening  labor,  instead  of  cheap- 
ening capital ;  exacting  at  the  same  time  an  income 
or  revenue  sufficient  to  pa)'  the  interest  and 
expenses  of  the  government,  from  the  industry 
and  agriculture  of  the  people. 

As  to  the  proposition  advanced  by  the  Hon. 
\\.  J.  Walker,  to  raise  a  loan  of  $1,000,000,000, 
in  gold  at  si.\  per  cent.,  in  some  foreign  country, 
to  resume  specie  pajment  and  to  retain  the 
natirmal  banking  .system,  serious  objections  present 


i6 

themselves.  First:  borrowing  ;?5 1 ,000,000,000  in 
coin,  if  it  could  be  had,  would  in  itself  be  a  calam- 
ity to  the  laboring  and  agricultural  classes  of  the 
country,  for  in  a  few  years  the  interest  upon  the 
same  ($60,000,000  per  annum)  ancl  the  present 
banking  laws  retained,  would  be  sufficient  to  absorb 
the  whole  amount,  leaving  the  government  in  no 
better  condition  than  she  is  at  present  and  the  peo- 
ple oppressed  with  a  burden  that  no  republican 
government  can  guarantee,  and  undoubtedly 
would  bring  about  the  ver}/  calamity  of  repudia- 
tion, which  all  honorable  men  desire  to  avoid- 
Second  :  it  is  inconsistent  for  the  interest  of  capital 
to  trust  itself  to  the  borrower  {idem  est — people) 
when  the  borrower  exercises  the  judicial  power 
in  the  form  of  legislation.  It  is  therefore  danger- 
ous for  a  free  people  to  create  an  interest  that  will, 
under  certain  circumstances,  favor  a  change  of 
political  system,  for  the*  safety  of  its  material 
wealth.  Such  interest,  if  centered  at  home,  may 
be  oppressive  to  the  people,  but  cannot  wrench 
from  the  people  the  right  of  legislation  and  con- 
sequent power  of  self-preservation.  But  let  this 
nation  assume  a  responsibility  of  such  magnitude 
to  citizens  of  other  nations,  with  the  express  con- 
dition that  such  obligation  shall  be  litigable  in 
some  foreign  country,  it  will  create  an  interest 
abroad  that  at  some  future  day  will   claim  a  right 


^7 

to  control  our  legislation,  when  such  legislation 
shall  address  itself  to  finances.  Such  claims  will 
in  such  case  surely  be  supported  by  the  identical 
interest  at  home,  and  the  writer  has  no  doubt 
that  it  would  become  a  source  of  corruption  in 
our  legislative  'halls,  unparalleled  in  the  annals  of 
time.  Moreover,  it  would  cause  our  people  to 
become  indirectly  the  supporters  of  foreign  powers; 
for,  under  the  present  financial  laws,  no  matter 
how  heavily  our  people  may  be  taxed,  the  wealth 
of  the  country  has  no  undue  outflow. 

As  to  the  resumption  of  specie  payment,  for  the 
restoration  of  confidence,  this  assumption  seems 
to  be  in  conflict  with  the  well-established  fact  that 
that  a  nation  which  is  capable  of  producing  the 
most  over  and  above  what  she  consumes  is  the 
safest  to  trust  to. 

As  to  the  second  proposition,  to  expand  the 
United  States  currency  to  a  sum  commensurate 
to  the  wants  of  exchange  of  commodities,  for  the 
retirement  of  national  currency,  and  the  paying  off 
of  our  indebtedness  in  currency  or  coin,  as  per 
contract  made  when  negotiated,  in  principle  we  do 
agree,  but  as  to  its  practicability,  under  present 
circumstances  and  laws,  we  object.  Vor,  to  [nit 
such  a  .system  in  operation  without  precautionary 
laws,  would  enhance  the  price  of  all  commodities 
to  such  an  extent  that  the  more  currency  we  would 


i8 


issue  the  more  would  be  needed  as  an  equivalent 
fo  the  purpose  of  exchange  ;  and  such  a  system 
would  leave  the  country  in  an  unsettled  condition* 
for  no  one  would  know  the  actual  value  of  things 
from  day  to  day.  What  we  need  is  a  judicious 
and  stable  system,  so  as  to  fortify  the  rights  of 
capital  and  the  right  of  those  who  possess  no 
capital  but  their  industrial  capacity,  and  to  secure 
safety  and  unimpaired  enjoyment  of  production  to 
industry  as  well  as  to  capital,  upon  principles  of 
equality  and  protection — in  unison  and  accord 
with  our  form  of  government.  Capital  is  in  its 
nature  inclined  monarchically,  for  it  needs  when 
concentrated  a  strong  power  for  its  protection,  (a 
concentrated  government)  ;  consequently  arises 
the  necessity  in  a  democratic  republican  nation, 
of  decentralizing  capital  in  order  to  secure  the 
safety  and  interest  of  the  people  and  government. 

"Decentralization  of  capital,"  then,  must  be  the 
political  standpoint  of  democratic-republican 
finances,  verifying  the  asserted  principles  of  equality 
and  independence  to  people  and  government. 

The  next  question  to  be  considered  is,  how 
decentralization  of  capital  shall  be  accomplished, 
without  infringing  upon  the  rights  of  the  individual 
possessing  and  holding  of  property  on  one  hand, 
and  relieving  the  industrial  classes  from  the  grasp- 
ing grip  of  capital  on  the  other  hand.  Upon 
which  subject  we  propose  to  treat  in  our  next. 


[Written  for  the  People's  Weekly,  Jamiary  2r>t)i,  1868.] 

CONTINUATION  OF  THE  DISCUSSION  OF 

THE  FINANCIAL  QUESTION  OF 

THE  DAY. 


BY  IGNATIUS  BATORV, 

Vice-President  of  the  Labor  Reform  Party  of  the  Third 
Legislative  District. 


No.  2. 

Me.ssrs.  Editors  : 

In  our  first  letter  we  have  endeavored  to  prove 
that  the  policy  of  contraction,  funding  and  national 
banking  system,  or  the  policy  of  borrowing 
money  from  Europeans,  upon  a  gold  basis,  will 
have  a  tendency  to  concentrate  capital  in  the 
hands  of  the  few,  (as  before),  and  create  an 
interest  against  the  people's  rights,  and  will 
endanger,  ultimately,  the  form  of  government 
which  we  all  profess  to  cherish  and  to  appreciate 
so  much. 

On  the  other  hand,  that  the  policy  of  expansion 
of  the  legal  tender  currency,  under  the  present 
financial  .system  and  laws  would,  in  itself,  be 
ruinous  ;  for  the  distru.st  it  would  engender  in  all 
branches  of  industry,  the   consequence   of  which 


20 

would  be  financial  chaos  and  confusion,  the  end  of 
which  no  one  can  foresee.  Asserting  at  the  same 
time  that  the  policy  of  decentralizing  capital  must 
be  the  standard  measure  of  democratic  republican 
finances. 

Having  thus  taken  this  position  in  favor  of 
decentralizing  capital,  in  a  judicious  and  lawful 
manner,  we  venture  the  following  as  the  best 
mode  known  to  us  for  its  accomplishment,  based 
upon  these  grounds  : 

TJiat  capital  being  the  vtediiini  of  exchange,  for 
all  things  known  to  civilization  as  property,  acquires, 
through  tJiis  propensity,  a  superiority  of  influence 
over  the  natural  capacities  of  men,  (physical  and 
mental).  And  when  strengthened  in  this  position, 
by  privileges  acquired  through  the  agericies  of  the 
lazv-making  powers,  not  properly  comprehended  when 
enacted,  or  enacted  in  a  spirit  of  partiality,  it  becomes 
the  master  of  both  nieiital  and  pJiysical  capacity,  and 
retains  to  itself  the  pozver  of  control  and  aggrandize- 
ment. 

The  propensity  as  a  general  medium  of  ex- 
change is  a  blessing  to  society,  for  it  stimulates 
production.  The  privileges  acquired  through 
legislation  is  a  curse  of  which  society  .should  be 
relieved  ;  and,  as  we  understand  the  case,  it  is 
centered  mainly  in  the  right  of  suing  in  the  courts 
for  collection  of  loans  voluntarily  made.      Let  the 


21 


nation  declare  that  every  business  transaction  is 
to  be  considered  cash  on  its  face  ;  let  the  nation 
abolish  all  the  usury  laws,  make  capital  a  free 
commodity,  give  the  owner  the  right  of  charging 
interest  to  his  satisfaction,  but  abolish  the  privilege 
of  collection  through  the  agency  of  a  court ;  let  it 
be  understood,  that  he  who  trusts  assumes  the 
responsibility  of  the  collection. 
•  Let  the  nation  next  restrict  capital  from  absorb- 
ing and  monopolizing  the  soil,  in  the  shape  of  real 
estate,  public  lands,  &c.,  so  that  this  natural  gift 
to  men  shall  be  unobstructed ;  then  capital  will  be 
forced  back  to  the  channels  for  which  it  was  cre- 
ated. Industry,  commerce  and  agriculture  will  find 
in  capital  their  best  friend,  instead  of  its  master; 
for  capital,  once  stripped  of  its  extraordinary 
privileges,  will  be  brought  in  a  position  equal  with 
the  mental  and  physical  capacity  of  men — all 
resting  upon  their  true  usefulness ;  capital  will 
lose  its  power  of  control  over  the  industry,  agri- 
culture, commerce  and  government ;  depending  as 
it  would  upon  mental  and  ph}'sical  labor  direct  for 
its  profitable  employment,  it  would  become  its 
assistant,  instead  of  its  ruler  ;  mental  and  ph)-sical 
labor  will  each  regulate  itself,  every  individual 
would  be  enabled  to  enjo)'  the  fruits  of  his  time 
and  capacity,  unimpaired. 


22 

Capital,  finding  itself  dependent  upon  the  in- 
dustry, commerce  and  agriculture  of  the  land,  will 
expand  our  productive  capacity  to  an  extent  never 
before  known  Our  shipping  will  revive,  to  carry 
our  surplus  products  to  every  nook  and  corner  of 
the  globe  ;  for  cheap  money  is  the  grand  lever  of 
industry,  and  money  {once  stripped  of  the  privilege 
of  lazvful  usury,  fostered  by  an  insane  credit  system, 
supported  by  courts,  paid ,  for  by  those  tvho  are  to  be 
stripped  of  all  they  can  earn  by  hard  toil,)  will  be 
cheap.  The  masses  will  become  the  government, 
the  government  will  be  stronger,  safer,  and  more 
free  than  ever  before. 

Let  the  nation  therefore  pass,  all  over  the 
United  States,  enactments  :  First — ^That  the  usury 
laws  in  all  the  States  being  abolished,  all  business 
transactions  hereafter  being  considered  cash  upon 
their  face,  that  creditors  assume  the  responsibility 
for  the  collection  of  debts. 

Second — That  all  courts  for  the  collection  of 
debts,  voluntarily  entered  into,  or  contracted,  shall 
be  abolislied. 

Third — That  the  soil  being  a  natural  gift  to 
men,  shall  not  be  monopolized  by  individuals  to  a 
larger  extent  than  so  much  per  capita,  through 
acqtnsition  hereafter. 

Fourth — Repeal  all  laws  relating  to  our  present 
mode  of  taxation,  and  enact  laws  upon  the  princi- 


23 

pie  of  direct  taxation,  {for,  to  decentralize  capital, 
it  is  necessary  that  those  who  own  the  wealth  of 
the  country  shall  be  taxed  for  its  support,  and  tJiose 
who  own  nothing  but  their  productive  capacity  should 
not  be  taxed.)  Such  laws  would  enable  the  poor 
toiling  and  industrial  classes  to  accumulate  pro- 
perty and  become  taxpayers.  No  citizen  should 
be  required  to  support  the  government  materially 
further  than  the  amount  of  material  wealth  he 
actually  possesses  at  the  time  so  taxed,  for  al- 
though moral  and  mental  support  in  time  of 
peace,  and  physical  support  in  time  of  zvar,  is  due 
from  every  one  of  its  citizens,  material  support 
cannot  judiciously  be  exacted  but  from  those  zvho 
possess  the  material  wealtJi  in  the  government. 

F"ifth — That  all  laws  now  in  force  that  grant 
privileges  exclusively  to  individuals  or  corpora- 
tions prejudicial  to  the  material  interest  of  the 
majority  of  the  people,  are  in  conflict  with  the 
natural  rights  of  men,  and  ought  to  be  repealed, 
from  time  to  time  ;  and  no  similar  laws  should  be 
hereafter  enacted. 

Capital  once  deprived  of  its  undue  powers,  of 
controlling  our  government,  will  cease  to  be  a 
corrupting  element ;  physical,  moral  and  mental 
capacity  will  become  the  standard  value  of  men; 
and  the  capacity  of  our  industry  and  agriculture 
will   be  the  true  standard  value  of  our  credit  and 


currency,  as  a  nation  ;  for  a  nation  that  is  capable 
of  producing  the  most,  over  and  above  what  she 
consumes,  is  the  safest  to  trust  to  ;  coin  will  inevit- 
ably flow  to  its  threshold.  Coin  will  become  a 
commodity  of  exchange  only,  without  strength  to 
control  the  natural  powers  of  men. 

Capital,  forced  to  the  channels  of  industry, 
agriculture  and  commerce,  (for  which  it  was 
created),  for  its  profitable  employment,  will  be- 
come the  best  friend  of  the  people  and  government, 
and  not  be  any  longer  its  controlling  master.  It 
will  assume  a  dependent  position ;  will  employ 
itself  in  all  branches  of  the  national  industry, 
agriculture,  commerce  and  shipping ;  the  last 
named  it  will  revive  to  an  extent  never  before 
known  in  the  history  of  any  nation  ;  for  it  is  the 
high  rate  of  interest  it  is  able  to  secure  upon  land, 
that  prevents  it  from  being  employed  upon  the 
seas,  and  gives  an  undue  advantage  to  other 
nations,  in  this  particular  branch  of  industry  and 
commerce. 

Not  through  the  contraction  of  the  circiilatitig 
medium,  then,  but  through  the  contraction  of  the 
rate  of  interest  oji  capital,  depends  the  revival  of 
productioji  and  co7isumption,  (industry  and  com- 
merce), and  the  re-establishment  of  our  credit  as  a 
nation. 


25 

Where  interest  upon  capital  is  excessive,  there 
living  becomes  expensive,  and  industry,  commerce 
and  agriculture,  not  finding  the  productive  capacity 
of  the  people  sufficiently  remunerative,  as  to  leave 
a  surplus  means  for  the  consumption  of  the  pro- 
ducts of  the  alternate  branches,  becomes  stagnant 
and  oppressed. 

Money  becomes  scarce,  not  for  its  scarcity,  but 
for  the  fact  that  when  interest  is  at  1 2  per  cent, 
but  half  the  amount  of  capital  is  required  for  the 
absorption  of  the  surplus  means  of  the  productive 
capacity  of  the  nation,  as  when  capital  is  6  per 
cent. 

Let  us  assume,  for  the  purpose  of  illustration, 
that  the  legislation  we  advocate  would  have  a 
tendency  to  place  capital  in  a  position  that  it 
would  be  willing  to  employ  itself  at  a  rate  of 
2  per  cent.,  wlien  safe  investment  could  be  made. 
Then  it  would  take  six  times  the  amount  of  circu- 
lating medium  to  carry  home  the  surplus  pro- 
duction of  the  nation,  as  at  the  rate  of  I2  per 
cent. — consequently  our  present  paper  currency, 
if  not  expanded,  would  not  be  sufficient  to  absorb 
the  surplus  production,  and  coin  would  follow  its 
trail  to  gain  the  balance. 

An  individual  who,  at  present,  is  in  possession  of 
$500,000,  and  manages  to  gain  a  ten  per  cent, 
income,    .say    of  $50,000,    would    then    earn    but 


26 


;^io,ooo;  the  balance  of  ;^40,ooo  would  remain 
with  those  who  produce  all  gains,  through  their 
mental  and  physical  exertions.  The  industrial, 
commercial  and  laboring  classes  would  be  enabled 
to  retain  a  sufficient  share  of  the  fruits  of  their 
time  and  labor,  to  enrich  themselves,  become 
truly  free  and  independent,  and  enable  them  to 
become  supporters  of  the  government  materi- 
ally ;  the  government  will  increase  its  tax-paying 
population,  become  stronger,  safer  and  freer. 

The  nation  will  be  enabled  to  reduce  its  interest- 
paying  obligations  to  one-fifth,  part  of  the  interest 
as  paid  at  present,  instead  of  repudiation.  She 
will  also  be  enabled  to  conduct  the  government 
upon  a  less  outlay  as  at  present,  in  proportion  as 
the  rate  of  living  is  to  become  cheaper. 

The  currency  at  present  being  ^700,000,000, 
taking  in  consideration  the  amount  of  business 
done  through  the  agency  of  the  banks  by  drafts, 
checks,  &c.,  it  cannot  be  less  than  twice  as  much, 
say  ^1,400,000,000;  add  the  coin  in  the  country, 
;^ 5 00,000,000,  and  we  have  a  total  circulating 
medium  of  ^1,900,000,000.  Abolish  the  courts 
to  collect  by  and  you  abolish  the  present  banking 
system  with  them,  then  the  government,  by  with- 
drawing the  present  national  currency,  will  be 
enabled  to  issue  $1,400,000,000  of  currency  with- 
out causing  inflation. 


27 

The  government  currency  being  circulated 
through  the  agency  of  the  treasury  department, 
will  not  be  used  as  a  medium,  to  exhaust  the 
resources,  of  the  people,  through  the  agency  of 
discounts,  as  done  at  present,  multiplying  interest 
upon  interest,  till  a  total  absorption  of  all  the 
wealth  of  the  country  is  inevitably  to  take  place 
in  the  hands  of  the  few.  For,  through  the  medium 
of  raising  the  prices  of  all  necessaries  of  life,  the 
middle  classes  are  reduced  to  poverty.  Capital 
absorbing  their  means,  creating  want  and  demoral- 
ization, the  consequences  of  which  enables  capital 
to  use  those  wretches  (small  politicians)  as  a  lever 
against  the  interests  of  the  laboring  classes. 

The  grasp  of  concentrated  capital  once  severed 
from  the  people's  pocket,  by  abolishing  all  laws, 
granting  .special  privileges,  through  which  privi- 
leges capital  is  at  present  enabled  of  controlling 
by  indirect  means,  mental  and  physical  capacity 
of  men.  It  will  then  assist  the  development  of  the 
use  of  modern  appliances,  as  steam,  machinery, 
railroads,  electricity,  &c.,  for  the  furthering  of  our 
productive  capacity,  and  will  increase  our  industry 
and  commerce,  instead  as  at  present,  being  but  a 
speculator  upon  the  same,  by  means  of  discounts. 

It  is  the  duty  of  American  democratic  republi- 
can statesmen,  not  only  to  secure  to  their  fellow 
citizens  the  enjoyment  of  the  right  of  life,  liberty 


28 

and  property  against  direct  attack,  but  also  from 
indirect  encroachment. 

Capital,  as  the  laws  stand  at  present,  encroaches 
upon  the  resources  of  industry,  agriculture  and 
commerce,  to  an  extent  that  the  acquirement  of 
property  becomes  difficult,  and  in  many  instances, 
unattainable.  In  consequence  of  which  liberty, 
and  even  life's  worth,  seems  dubious. 

Our  present  statesmen  seem  to  consider  this 
all-important  question  from  a  European  standpoint, 
namely  :  Capital,  Government  and  People  ;  where 
there  ought  to  be  but  two  parties — Capital  and 
Nation  ;  (the  last  government  and  people.) 

Capital  is  compact  selfishness  ;  it  unites  with 
government  in  a  mutual  bond,  to  secure  interest 
to  the  first  and  power  to  the  second. 

In  Europe  a  nation  never  borrows  money  ;  it  is 
always  the  government  and  capital  that  compose 
the  parties  to  the  contract.  The  people  are  only 
considered  in  their  productive  capacity,  as  so  many 
sheep  to  be  shorn,  just  as  a  great  wool  producer 
does  to  raise  a  loan  upon  his  next  crop  of  wool. 
The  moneyed  man  exacts  the  lowest  possible 
price  as  a  reward  for  his  advance  payment.  So 
does  capital  exact  the  best  terms — loaning  upon 
bonds  at  the  lowest  figures  and  securing  the 
highest  rate  of  interest,  so  that  by  the  volume  of 
interest  it  (capital)  may  be  able   to  measure  the 


29 

standard  of  value,  of  its  received  bonds,  after  the 
close  of  the  negotiation. 

The  people  are  never  consulted  (in  Europe)  in 
the  matter,  consequently  there  a  nation  never 
borrows.  For  a  nation  is  composed  of  people  and 
government. 

The  principles  of  finance  are  in  Europe  well 
understood ;  the  government  and  capital  unites 
there,  for  a  mutual  advantage.  Capital  upholds 
the  government  by  furnishing  the  ready  means  for 
su.staining  standing  armies,  a  machinery,  through 
which  the  very  laws  enacted  by  the  government, 
to  create  its  own  authority  (without  consulting 
the  people),  arc  enforced  on  one  hand,  and  the 
laws  to  secure  unimpaired  revenue  to,  and  safety 
of  capital  on  the  other. 

Here  lies  the  secret,  why  money  is  worth  in 
Europe  but  3  per  cent.,  and  in  the  United  States  6 
per  cent.,  the  latter  being  the  wealthiest  and  the 
most  productive  ;  but  does  not  po.ssess  the  same 
guarantee  in  the  form  of  standing  armies  and 
absolute  power. 

Our  present  government  is  yet  republican  in 
form,  but  does  not  po.s.sess,  beyond  the  ballot,  the 
essence  of  a  democratic  government,  which  is  the 
people's  rights,  interests  and  influence  in  the 
government — which  rights,  interests  and  influence 
can  be  secured  to  them  only  through  the  sccure- 
ment  of  material  independence. 


[Written  by  Ignatius  Batory,  for  the  People's  Weekly  of  Baltimore, 
February  8th,  1868.] 

THE   WORKINGMEN'S    PARTY   AND    ITS 

MISSION. 


It  is  not  well  understood  by  our  fellow-citizens 
for  what  purpose  this  new  party  is  organizing.    Like 
all  new  things,  it  is  subjected  to  doubt  and  dis- 
trust.     On  the  other  hand  its  principles  not  being 
(as  a  general  thing)  fully  developed,  it  stands  in 
exactly  the  same  position  to  the  two  parties  rela- 
tively, as  do  the  two  contending    parties  (demo- 
crats and  republicans)  stand  in  relation   to    each 
other  namely  :  "struggling  for  the  mastery."      We 
can,  therefore,  expect  no  favor  from  either.      For 
we  asse^rt  that  neither  of  the  aboved-named  parties 
have  a  fixed  or  well  defined  platform  of  principles 
to  stand  upon,  comprehensive   enough  to  embrace 
the  interest  and  well-being  of  the  zvliolc  American 
people.     They  are  both  struggling  for  a  mastery  of 
position  only — office  and  its  emoluments. 

We  beg  leave  to  inform  our  doubting  and  mis- 
trusting fellow-citizens  that,  although  our  princi- 
ples are  as  yet  not  fully  developed,  they  are  suffi- 
ciently so  to  enable  us  to  claim  for  them  a  superior- 
ity in  comprehensiveness  and  of  general  usefulness 


31 

as  well ;  being  calculated    for    the    benefit  of  the 
whole  American  people. 

For  the  essence  of  the  principles  of  the  Repub- 
lican Party  in  power  at  present,  is,  universal  or 
viatilwod  siiffj-agc.  Ostensibly  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  safety  to  the  form  of  government,  but 
in  reality  for  the  strengthening  of  their  (Republi- 
can Party)  chances  in  the  electoral  college  for  the 
next  presidential  election.  To  attain  this  last 
mentioned  advantage  securely,  they  are  compelled 
to  bring  their  battle-cry — universal  and  manhood 
suffrage — in  conflict  with  their  action,  by  disfran- 
chising a  large  number  of  citizens — voters  hereto- 
fore— which  is  neither  universal  nor  manhood 
suffrage. 

Such  policy  is  neither  in  principle  nor  in  fact 
comprehensive,  nor  for  the  well-being  of  society  — 
being  wanting  in  Morality,  Justice  and  Equity. 

The  essence  of  the  principles  avowed  by  the 
conservative  or  Democratic  Party,  is,  "the  Con- 
stitution as  it  is."  This  as  a  battle-cry  sounds 
well  to  the  ears  of  the  American  people.  So  do 
we  want  the  preservation  of  the  American  Consti- 
tution. \^\\t  the  Democratic  Party  has  for  the 
last  fifteen  years,  and  especially  the  last  few  years, 
given  sufficient  proof  of  its  inability  to  keep  within 
the  limitations  of  the  Constitution,  and  stands, 
in    this  respect,   upon   the   same   record  with   the 


32 

Republican  Party,  although  for  different  purposes. 
The  consequence  of  it  is  political  demoralization  ; 
that  there  are  not  two  leading  Democrats  or  Re- 
publicans in  this  country  who  view  the  Constitu- 
tution  with  the  same  comprehension. 

Both  of  these  parties  are  deficient  in  capacity  of 
judging  Correctly,  Morally,  or  Comprehen- 
sively. They  stand  before  the  people  as  plaintiffs 
and  defendants,  each  accusing  the  other,  for  the 
purpose  of  lightening  the  burden  of  political  sins 
that  rests  upon  their  names  respectively,  and  from 
which  the  people  have  been  and  are  yet  suffering 
so  intensely. 

This  proves  their  incapacity  for  public  or  general 
good.  They  are  not  representatives  of  the  people, 
the  entire  people,  for  they  have  neglected  their 
material  welfare,  and  consequently  can  never 
become  comprehensive,  for  they  are  partisans  and 
not  patriots. 

In  each  of  the  States,  we  may  as  well  assert  in 
each  of  the  Congressional  districts,  of  the  Union 
these  partisans  have  an  interpretation  of  their  own, 
for  that  venerable  (and  vulnerable)  instrument, 
the  Constitution. 

This  is  certainly  not  a  comprehensive  enough 
principle,  through  which  the  general  good  of  the 
nation  can  be  secured. 


33 

As  to  the  all-absorbing  interest  of  the  people, 
the  very  substance  of  life,  liberty  and  happiness — 
\}a&  financial  question — these  parties  stand  upon  the 
indentical  ground  or  platform,  namely  :  "Let  it 
alone,  do  nothing;"  for  they  each  desire  in  the 
next  election,  the  support  of  the  workingmen  and 
of  capital  as  well.  Object  : — The  Mastery  of 
Position  only  (office  and  emoluments.) 

SucJi  a  policy,  such  a  platform,  sucJi  a  no-principle, 
is  certainly  neither  comprehensive,  nor  for  the 
general  good  of  the  nation. 

Ours  is  a  new  party,  just  emerging  from  the 
PEOPLE.  In  our  body  there  are  no  outgrown 
OR  outworn  politicians.  We  have  no  knowl- 
edge OF  political  strategy  or  political  tactics. 
We  have  no  pipes  to  lay,  no  mines  to  dig,  no 
lies  to  concoct,  no  ambiguous  language  to  study, 
NO  political  hypocrisy  to  feint,  no  falsehoods 
to  utter.  Wc  stand  upon  the  Truth  and  noth- 
ing but  Honest  Truth,  as  it  becomes  men, 
Democrats  and  Republicans — as  citizens  of  a  free 
and  common  country. 

What  wc  profess,  you  can  rely  upon.  Wc  ma}' 
be  mistaken,  or  we  may  be  wrong,  but  never  will 
any  one  be  deceived  by  our  party,  h'or  the 
people  cannot  deceive  themselves,  their  wives, 
their  innocent  children,  suffering  as  they  do.  Let 
them  but  listen  to  our  professions.  "Good  to 
All  and  Evil  to  None"  is  Our  Battle-Cry. 


34 

Free  government  with  us  signifies  free  people. 
A  people  that  suffers  for  the  want  of  peace,  har- 
mony and  happiness,  or  the  want  of  an  easy  mode 
of  making  an  Jionorable  living,  is  not  free  and 
consequently  have  a  no  more  free  government 
than  a  monarchy  has. 

The  object  of  this  party  is  to  be  true  to  its 
mission.  We  feel  it  is  the  duty  of  a  party,  if  it 
be  Democratic  or  Republican,  to  represent  the 
best  interest  of  the  whole  people.  This  is  what 
neither  of  the  other  parties  do.  To  retrieve  our 
lost  ground  of  freedom,  to  re-establish  actual,  in 
place  of  present  nominal  freedom,  and  to  improve 
upon  the  original,  b}'  preventing  in  future, 
(through  the  enactment  of  laws,  impartial  in  their 
nature,)  the  centralization  of  an  influence  over  the 
government.  To  create  a  financial  system  that 
will  enable  each  individual  to  make  an  honorable 
and  easy  living,  and  to  retain  the  surplus  of  all  he 
earns.  To  destroy  the  artificial  channels,  created 
through  the  assistance  of  legislation  of  half  a 
century,  erroneously  conceived  or  partially  en- 
acted, and  through  which  channels  all  the  wealth 
of  the  country  flows  to  the  few  ;  and  to  enact  laws 
in  their  stead  that  will  have  a  tendency  to  cause 
the  wealth  of  the  country  to  flow  to  the  many 
and  make  them  truly  independent.  To  destroy 
the  habit  of  idolatry  of  men,  and   to   teach    idola- 


35 

tion  of  principles,  of  laws,  and  of  the  Constitution  ; 
of  morality,  of  impartiality  and  of  self-sacrifice  for 
the  public  good. 

To  abolish  the  present  system  of  indirect  taxa- 
tion, as  being  destructive  to  the  material  inde- 
pendence of  the  people,  and  to  establish  a  system 
of  direct  taxation,  upon  the  principle  that  each 
citizen  shall  be  taxed  in  proportion  to  his  material 
wealth. 

To  prevent  crime  and  pauperism,  by  furnishing 
the  means  of  making  an  honest  living. 

To  prevent  debauchery  and  prostitution,  by 
furnishing  the  means  of  support,  to  enable  the 
young  to  contract  early  marriages. 

To  restore  the  moral  comprehension  of  the 
people,  by  entrusting  none  to  high  or  responsible 
offices  but  men  who  will  conscientiously  regard 
the  obligation  of  the  Constitution  and  the  laws. 

To  ennoble  and  to  elevate  the  character  of  the 
young,  by  enabling  them  to  earn  a  support  and 
protection  for  their  aged  or  infirm  parents. 

To  make  this  nation  the  most  happy,  the  most 
virtuous,  the  most  noble,  the  most  independent, 
and  actually  free. 

The  mission  of  our  party  is  to  verify  the  aspira- 
tions of  the  framers  of  this  our  government,  to 
make  men  free,  independent  and  happy.  In  fine 
it  is  the  mission  of  this  party  to  fulfill  the  obliga- 


36 

tions  imposed  on  us  (as  men)  by  nature,  through 
the  laws  of  nature,  from  which  all  rights  take 
their  origin  and  authority. 

Good  to  all  and  evil  to  none" — is  the  motto 
of  the  Workingmen's  party. 


•       [Written  February  23nd,  1808,  by  Ignatius  Batory.] 

THE  WORKINGMEN'S  PARTY— WHO  ARE 
TO  BE  CONSIDERED  WORKINGMEN? 


When  the  great  majority  of  the  nation  are 
forced  to  seek  relief  from  the  oppressive  circum- 
stances they  are  brought  under  through  the  means 
of  organizing  a  political  party,  that  will  represent 
their  interests  fully,  and  chose  to  style  it  "The 
Workingmen's  Party,"  it  becomes  of  import  to 
ascertain  and  to  know,  who  of  the  citizens  of  our 
country  are  indicated  in  the  name  "workingmen," 
and  whose  interests  is,  by  the  nature  of  their  occu- 
pation in  society,  identical  and  inseparable  from 
the  movement. 

In  Europe,  where  society  is  headed  bj- 
l<2mpcrors.  Kings,  Queens,  Princes,  Dukes,  Lords, 
Counts,  Barons,  and  others  of  nobility  and  rank 
"enjoying  extraordinary  prerogatives  and  privi- 
leges," it  follows  that  men  (human  nature  being 
imitative)  crave  for  superiority,  privileges  and  posi- 
tion, to  assimilate  themselves  to  rank.  "And  as 
rank  cannot  retain  its  position  and  influence  safely, 
except  by  keeping  others  as  inferiors,  at  the  same 
time,  could  not  maintain   its  pretensions  against  a 


38 

united  sentiment  of  the  people, — it  (rank)  is  creat- 
ing a  divided  interest  (apparently)  and  aspirations." 

Rank  fosters  a  belief  in  superiority  of  men  over 
men — from  which  they  deduce  the  divine  right  of 
the  minority  to  rule  the  majority — and  creates 
inferior  ranks  and  classes,  based  not  upon  privi- 
leges, for  they  are  all  subjects,  but  upon  the  fol- 
lowing: I.  Wealth;  2.  Learning;  3.  Profession; 
4.  Merchants;  5.  Manufacturers  ;  6.  Artisans;  7. 
Clerks ;  8.  Boss  Mechanics,  (small  employers) ; 
9.  Mechanics;  10.  Farmers;  11.  Servants;  12. 
Workingmen.  This  fostered  and  inculcated  be- 
lief of  imaginary  superiority  between  men  and 
men,  constitutes  the  weakness  of  the  majority  (the 
people),  and  enables  the  minority  to  maintain  its 
prerogatives  and  privileges,  and  to  retain  the  whole 
mass,  the  learned,  the  professions,  the  merchants, 
the  manufacturer,  &c.,  as  subjects — Although 
THEIR  Interests  are  Identical! 

This  very  notion  of  superiority  seems  to  have 
crept  into  our  society,  and  has  retarded  the  develop- 
ment and  perfection  of  our  free  institutions — thus 
the  principles  of  justice,  equality  and  happiness, 
as  enunciated  by  the  framers  of  our  form  of  gov- 
ernment, have  been  entirely  lost  sight  of,  and  there 
is  to-day  no  liberty  beyond  the  ballot-box. 

Each  branch  in  society  is  assuming  a  position 
of   superiority  over    their    fellow  men,    loosening 


39 

themselves  from  the  natural  tie,  that  binds  the 
interest  to  the  whole  ;  neglecting  to  fulfill  their 
duty  to  the  weaker  portion  of  their  fellow  men, 
still  pretending  to  be  sensible,  honest,  virtuous, 
and  God-fearing  men  ! 

This  being  our  condition,  it  behooves  us  to  at- 
tempt to  prove  the  identity  of  interest  of  all  those 
whose    occupation    is    agriculture,   industry,  com- 
merce, mental    or  physical   labor,  in  our  country. 
Let  us  examine  for  a  moment  how  our  interests 
are  bound  together.      All    interest  in  society  is,  in 
its  nature,  founded  upon  material  well  being.      The 
emperor   or   king  would  not  be  willing   to   retain 
authority,  if  it  would   give  ease  and  happiness  to 
his    subjects,   and   entail    poverty  and   trouble   to 
himself.     No  person  would  be  willing  to  serve  as 
President,  as  Senator  or  member  of  Congress,  if  it 
would  cau.se  him  trouble  and  loss  of  a  correspond- 
ing amount  of  wealth  as  it  at  present  benefits  him. 
It  is  then  from  a  material  .standpoint  that  we  have 
to  view  our  common  interest. 

There  can  be  no  misconception  in  regard  to  our 
cho.sen  name,  that  of  "  The  Workingmen's  Party," 
containing  as  it  does  laborers,  servants,  mechanics, 
small  employers  and  arti.sans.  Of  the  others  we 
will  take  up  the  merchants,  the  manufacturers  and 
the  agriculturists. 


40 

The  merchants  divide  in  two  interests,  the  pro- 
ductive and  exporting  and  consumptive  and  im- 
porting capacity  of  the  nation.  To  increase  the 
productive  or  exporting  capacity  of  the  nation,  we 
must  force  capital  into  the  channels  of  industry  at 
the  lowest  possible  rate  of  interest.  Capital  will 
increase  our  production,  and  the  low  rate  of  inter- 
est our  export.  To  raise  the  consumptive  or 
importing  capacity,  we  must  relieve  the  people  of 
the  oppressive  taxation  and  unjust  legislation  that 
,  enables  capital  to  exact  its  present  high  rate  of 
interest,  exhausting  the  earnings  of  the  people, 
preventing  them  from  being  consumers  to  any 
great  extent. 

The  manufacturer  has  an  identical  interest  with 
both  the  above  classified  merchants.  He  needs 
cheap  capital  and  a  large  consumption. 

The  agriculturist  needs  cheap  transportation, 
cheap  goods,  cheap  money,  and  liberal  consump- 
tion. If  we  force  capital  into  industry  at  a  low 
rate  of  interest,  the  farmer  will  be  able  to  purchase 
his  groceries,  merchandise  and  implements  at  a 
low  figure,  and  by  relieving  the  people  and  him- 
self of  the  unjust  mode  of  taxation,  he  will  find 
the  people  able  consumers. 

Professional  men  and  clerks  both  need  cheap 
living,    low    taxes,   and    the   people's   capacity   to 

employ    their    respective    branches,    theirs    being 


41 

undoubtedly  mental  labor,  being  the  natural  twin 
brother  of  physical  labor. 

As  to  the  learned  professions,  we  cannot  en- 
lighten them,  for  if  they  have  not  sense  enough 
to  know  their  identical  interest  with  labor,  they 
certainly  do  not  belong  to  the  learned  professions. 

We  a\er  that  nearly  every  individual  in  our 
countr}^  is  a  co-workingman  in  a  national  sense, 
each  doing  his  best  for  his  advancement  singly, 
and     for    the    nation    jointly.     Socially    no    evil 

CAN     BE    DONE  WITHOUT    AFFECTING    US    ALL.       The* 

laws  that  prejudice  the  interest  of  one  member, 
prejudices  the  interest  of  all. 

The  merchant  is  but  a  clerk  of  his  employer — 
"The  People" — either  for  procurement  of  the 
necessaries  from  other  countries,  or  for  the  dis- 
bursement or  exportation  of  our  own  surplus 
products.  The  manufacturer  is  not  less  a  work- 
ingman  of  the  nation  than  is  a  common  laborer, 
each  working  physically  or  mentally  for  self — 
and  jointly  for  the  nation.  The  farmer  ranks,  in 
Europe,  below  the  mechanic  ;  admitting  him  in 
this  country  an  equal  position,  but  certainly  he 
.should  not  think  himself  better  than  a  working- 
man,  for  work  is  his  existence. 

In  fine,  the  interest  of  all  is  identical,  the  laws 
that  oppress  one  oppress  all.  There  are  few  ex- 
ceptions  only  and    they  are  those    possessing   an 


42 

interest  disconnected  from  industry,  commerce 
and  agriculture,  and  standing  upon  the  merit  of 
capital  or  office,  the  latter  being  the  most  danger- 
ous to  the  best  interests  of  the  people — it  being 
based  upon  aristocratic  family  relationship,  or 
upon  subserviency  to  capital  or  party  interest. 

Let^  then.,  all  good  men  unite  for  a  joint  effort 
to  Dislodge  Capital,  and  the  unprincipled, 
subservient  politicians  from  the  political  power  that 
enables  them  to  attain  their  selfish  ends.,  to  the  in- 
jury of  the  majority,  to  an  extent  that  no  preroga- 
tive or  privilege  in  Europe  has  ever  been  able  to 
accomplish  to  sue Ji  perfection. 

Let  us  (The  Workingmen's  Party)  Unsaddle 
THESE  Cruel  Riders,  for  they  force  their  Spurs 
INTO  OUR  Flesh  ! 


[Written  March  31st,  1868,  by  Ignatius  Batory.] 

WHAT  WE   HEAR,  WHAT  WE   READ 
AND  WHAT  WE  FEEL. 


We  hear,  we  read,  of  the  noble  progress  made 
by  the  workingmen's  party  everywhere.  We  are 
gladdened,  we  are  pleased,  we  are  hopeful,  we  feel 
elated — but  what  of  all  that  ?  What  does  it  com- 
pare with  the  grand  aim  of  our  movement ! — the 
success  of  which  is  destined  to  give  a  Fatherland 
of  our  own  to  the  toiling  millions — a  home  full  of 
plenty,  of  peace,  of  happiness,  of  innocence,  of 
love,  of  attachment,  of  manhood,  of  independence 
and  contentedness. 

Yes  !  Our  Soul  has  Penetrated  the  vet 
Hidden  Future,  and  it  has  lit  a  spark  there,  that 
has  laid  bare  to  our  mind's  eye,  the  future  that  is 
sure  to  come,  when  every  one  will  be  happy  and 
free ! 

Down,  then,  with  party  predilections  !  For  the 
people  must  be  made  happy  and  free  ! 

We  implore  you,  workingmen,  to  come  forward 
and  trust  to  the  workingmen's  party.  We  po.sse.ss 
hearts  to  feel,  minds  to  judge,  souls  to  penetrate, 
to  convince,  to  search  for  the  good  of  us  and  you 
all. 


44 

Let  those  who  choose,  sneer,  laugh  or  jeer,  we 
will  win,  for  the  good  of  all.  And  those  who  now 
sneer,  laugh  or  jeer  at  us,  and  those  who  even 
degrade  themselves  by  slandering,  falsifying,  tra- 
ducing or  betraying  us — will,  to  their  own  shame, 
be  compelled  to  enjoy  the  benefits  of  our  success 
in  common  with  us. 

.  For  under  all  circumstances  the  workingmen's 
party  will  remain  true  to  their  mission,  to  bring 
good  to  all  and  evil  to  none. 

Our  object  is  a  legitimate  one.  It  is  to  awaken 
the  people  to  the  danger  that  threatens  them  and 
their  posterity,  from  the  political  demoralization 
and  incapacity  of  the  public  men  of  the  day.  It 
is  to  sliozv  them  the  future  as  we  see  it,  for  good  or 
evil.  Then  it  will  entail  upon  them  to  choose  be- 
tween their  present  condition — homeless,  needy, 
quarrel-ridden,  tax-ridden,  bank-ridden,  without 
means,  without  peace,  without  happiness,  despoiled 
of  innocence,  of  love,  of  attachment,  deprived  of 
manhood,  of  independence,  and  content;  or  the 
future,  as  we  comprehend  it — a  fatherland  of  their 
own,  a  home  full  of  plenty,  of  peace,  of  happiness, 
of  innocence,  love  and  attachment,  a  consciousness 
of  manhood,  independence  and  contentedness. 

We  must  compel  dishonest  politicians  to  work 
for  a  living,  by  taking  the  offices  from  them,  and 
enact  laws  that  will  cause  all  those  who  do  not 


.      45 

work  to  starve,  and  will  enable  all  that  do  work  to 
make  a  living,  instead  of  as  at  present  that  those 
who  work  starve,  and  those  who  do  not  work 
live  to  enjoy. 

It  is  the  duty  of  every  workingman,  then,  to 
come  forward  and  attach  himself  to  the  movement, 
ally  his  feelings  to  those  who  candidly  profess  and 
urge  him  to  self-deliverance,  from  the  gnawing 
jaws  of  the  political  hydra. 


[Written  by  Ignatius  Batol■3^] 

DESIDERATUM  VIRGINS  EST  POTENCIA. 


The  thought,  the  wish,  the  cravings  and  aspira- 
tions in  the  individual,  constitute  and  are  the 
powerful  agencies  that  plant  the  germ  in  the  seed 
of  thought  in  men,  from  which  springs  civilization 
and  human  achievements. 

It  is  the  individual  who  thinks  first,  wishes 
first,  craves  first,  and  aspires  first  for  the  obtain- 
ment  or  accomplishment  of  a  certain  desirable  ob- 
ject; he  being  convinced  of  the  practicability, 
beneficent  and  equitable  character  of  the  desired 
object.  He  follows  it  up  with  an  inspired  zeal 
that  nature  plants  at  times  in  men.  He  thinks, 
feels,  and  he  reiterates  his  thoughts  and  feelings  to 
his  fellow  men,  for  his  conclusions  are  worthless 
to  him  without  the  assent,  approval  and  assistance 
of  his  fellow  men. 

Science,  Religion  and  States'  philosophy  assimi- 
late themselves  to  the  new  thought,  and  humanity 
is  benefited  by  it. 


DEMAND  AND  SUPPLY. 


DEMAND     AND     SUPPLY     IS     THE     SUBTERFUGE     OF 
IGNORANT    STATESMEN  AND    THEIR    FOLLOWERS. 

Whenever  the  ill-conceived  policy  of  our  States' 
economy  and  States'  finances  culminates  in  com- 
mercial panic,  our  all-wise  statesmen,  at  the  head 
of  our  admini.stration,  who  manage  the  peoples' 
affairs,  as  a  rule,  express  themselves,  that  demand 
and  supply  regulates  these  things,  charging  over 
production,  high  living,  extravagance  and  so  forth, 
as  the  foundation  of  the  evil. 

The  truth  is,  our  people  don't  produce  enough, 
don't  consume  enough,  don't  spend  enough,  which 
I  will  ri-ght  here  endeavor  to  prove  to  you.  Sup- 
pose our  people  were  prosperous,  by  being  enabled 
to  find  constant  employment  utilizing  their  physi- 
cal and  mental  labor,  they  would  consume  more, 
produce  more  and  spend  more  otherwise,  than 
they  are  enabled  to  do  at  present. 

Our  nation  contains  at  lea.st  ten  million  families 
or  households  of  six  persons  each.  This  is  statisti- 
cally ascertained. 

These  ten  million  households  by  being  enabled 
through   the  agency   of  prosperous   times,   would 


48 

use  the  trifling  amount  of  one  pound  of  meat  addi- 
tional per  diem. 

This  would  increase  the  demand  for  meat  of 
thirty-six  hundred  million  pounds  per  annum. 
Equal  at  ten  cents  per  pound,  to  five  hundred  mil- 
lion dollars. 

It  would  require  three  million  and  six  hundred 
thousand  cattle,  each  weighing  one  thousand 
pounds  when  dressed,  or  thirty-.six  million  head 
of  sheep,  one  hundred  pounds  each. 

If  each  family  would  have  the  means  to  buy  an 
additional  one  pint  of  milk  per  diem,  the  consump- 
tion of  milk  would  increase  thirty  million  quarts 
per  week,  not  counting  Sundays,  or  equal  to  three 
hundred  and  seventy-five  million  gallons  estimated 
at  ten  cents  per  gallon,  does  represent  the  sum  of 
thirty-seven  and  one  half  million  dollars. 

Each  family  by  using  one  pound  of  butter  in 
addition  to  the  present  consumption  per  week, 
calculating  it  at  twenty  cents  per  pound,  represents 
the  sum  of  one  hundred  million  dollars. 

By  adding  one  pound  of  lard  to  each  family  per 
week,  we  gain  at  eight  cents  per  pound,  forty 
million  dollars  per  annum. 

If  each  family  had  the  means  of  buying  two 
barrels  of  flour  per  annum  in  addition,  this  would 
consume  twenty  million  barrels,  representing,  at 
five  dollars  per  barrel,  one  hundred  million  dollars, 


49 

requiring  one  hundred  million  bushels  of  wheat, 
or  more  than  our  present  surplus. 

Assuming  prosperity  in  every  American  house- 
hold, each  one  of  them  would  use  the  trifling 
amount  of  fifty  cents  per  week  on  fruits,  vegeta- 
bles and  green  relishes  in  addition  to  their  present 
consumption. 

This  amounts  to  two  hundred  and  fifty  million 
dollars  per  annum. 

Reader,  I  will  stop  here,  as  I  do  not  desire  to 
enter  into  the  infinite  of  possibilities,  to  burden 
your  mind  or  waste  your  time.  Be  it  sufficient  that 
I  have  here  enumerated  only  six  leading  articles 
of  an  indispensible  nature,  the  aggregated  amount 
of  which  is  eight  hundred  and  eighty-seven  and  one- 
half  millions  dollars.  A  sum  sufficient  to  pay  the 
wages  of  nearly  two  million  men,  at  ten  dollars 
per  week  for  one  year.  The  production  of  the 
wealth  here  stated  would  inure  entirely  to  the 
agricultural  industry  of  the  country,  would  benefit 
the  means  of  transportation  and  trade  and  com- 
merce. 

Assuming  further  that  by  creating  prosperity 
through  just  legislative  means,  we  would  also  en- 
able our  people  to  spend  annually  each  on  shoes 
additionally  two  dollars.  This  would  increase  our 
industry  and  commerce  one  hundred  and  twenty 
millions.      One  dollar  on  hats,  sixty  millions,  two 


50 

shirts  each  at  seventy-five  cents,  ninety  milHons  ; 
clothing  three  dollars  per  annum,  one  hundred 
and  eighty  millions  ;  underwear  one  dollar,  sixty 
millions  ;  furniture  five  dollars  a  family,  fifty 
millions  ;  carpets  and  oil  cloths,  three  dollars, 
thirty  millions  ;  stoves  and  cooking  utensils  five 
dollars,  fifty  millions  ;  crockery,  glassware  and 
cutlery,  three  dollars,  thirty  millions  ;  pictures  and 
ornaments,  two  dollars,  twenty  millions  ;  paper- 
hanging  and  drapery  two  dollars,  twenty  millions  ; 
painting  and  renovating  the  houses,  five  dollars, 
fifty  millions  ;  making  in  all  seven  hundred  and 
sixty  millions,  equal  to  the  wages  of  one  million 
five  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  men,  at  ten 
dollars  per  week  for  one  year,  or  in  all,  equal  to 
the  wages  of  three  millions  and  twenty-seven 
thousand  men  at  ten  dollars  per  week  for  one 
year.  This  being  a  larger  number  of  men  than 
this  country  ever  had  out  of  employment. 

Reader,  these  are  no  imaginary  conceptions ; 
these  are  facts  based  on  reality.  Labor  is  idle  wait- 
ing to  create,  earn  and  consume;  mental  and  physi- 
cal labor  is  craving  for  opportunities  to  create, 
earn  and  enjoy  the  fruits  of  labor  and  the  blessings 
of  nature  !  But  they  are  prevented  by  ill  con- 
ceived economic  and  financial  legislation. 

The  people  are  prevented  from  creating  annu- 
ally the  immense  amount  of  cig/ttceft  hundred  mil- 


I 


51 

lions  dollars  worth  of  property  by  being  kept  in 
idleness,  through  the  invisible  hand  of  combined 
wealth  and  power. 

It  is  our  duty  to  increase  the  prosperity  of  every 
American  household,  by  decentralization  of  wealth 
and  decentralization  of  power.  This  can  be  accom- 
plished through  judicious  legislation.  By  prevent- 
ing the  circulating  mediiivi  ''Money''  from  making 
an  income  ontside  of  trade,  commerce,  industry, 
agriculture  or  shipping. 


[Written  1875,  by  Ignatius  Batory-] 

STATES'   PHILOSOPHY,  STATES'  ECON- 
OMY AND  FINANCES. 


States'  philosophy,  States'  economy  and  finances, 
are  three  inseparable  sciences  ;  the  failure  in  one 
causes  the  failure  in  all. 

Our  present  financial  system  is  apparently  a 
success,  but  will  actually  prove  a  failure,  as  it 
lacks  the  States'  philosophical  and  economical 
virtues. 

Our  present  financial  system  is  grounded  upon 
the  conception  of  governmental  credit.  Just  as 
a  merchant  strengthens  his  credit  by  paying 
promptly,  principal  and  interest,  although  his 
resources  are  dail\'  impaired  to  a  larger  degree, 
and  his  ability  to  pay  in  the  future  becomes  less. 

States'  philosophy  teaches  us  that  in  a  govern- 
ment like  ours,  the  ability  to  pay  should  not  be 
calculated  beyond  a  reasonable  portion  of  the 
annual  surplus  of  the  earnings  of  the  people,  and 
not  from  the  positive  or  actual  possessions  already 
acquired  hy  a  portion  of  our  people,  for  such  a 
policy  impoverishes  the  tax-paying  portion  of  the 
people,   the    very   foundation    of   national     credit 


53 

For  the  stability  of  the  credit  of  any  nation  de- 
pends entirely  upon  the  material  prosperity  of  the 
people  and  not  upon  the  disposition  of  the  govern- 
ment to  exact  income,  and  when  the  people  have 
the  legislative  power  to  estop  their  government 
from  impoverishing  them,  governmental  guarantees 
become  feeble,  consequently.  The  present  finan- 
cial policy  of  our  government  is  fallacious  and 
unstable. 

If  we  view  our  financial  policy  from  a  State's 
economical  point  of  view,  we  find  that  it  is  calcu- 
lated to  encourage  our  people  to  become  usurers 
upon  the  resources  of  their  fellow-citizens,  avoid- 
ing all  risks  of  industry,  commerce,  agriculture  or 
shipping,  which  causes  millions  of  our  laboring 
men  to  be  idle,  and  consequently  diminishes  our 
resources  of  production,  reduces  the  surplus  earn- 
ings and  endangers  the  material  prosperity  of  our 
people.  No  philosoph}-,  no  polic)'  that  is  not 
calculated  to  advance  the  chances  of  constant 
employment  to  mental  and  physical  labor  is  sound, 
and  all  calculations  and  promises  that  are  not 
based  upon  production  are  fallacious  and  futile. 
States'  economy  bewares  us  of  unemployed  labor. 

We  mu.st  legislate  in  a  manner  to  force  the 
circulating  medium  into  the  channels  of  trade, 
industry,  commerce,  agriculture  and  shipping,  for 
which  channels  it  was  created.      Legislators   must 


54 

endeavor  to  create  circumstances  through  the 
agency  of  well  matured  laws,  equitable  in  their 
nature,  that  will  have  a  tendency  to  force  the 
circulating  medium  in  a  position  that  would  com- 
pel it  to  seek  income  or  profit  through  the  chan- 
nels of  trade,  indu^stry,  agriculture,  commerce  and 
shipping  direct,  and  not  as  at  present.  It  obtains 
profit  and  income  in  an  indirect  manner,  without 
risk  or  exertion  on  the  part  of  its  possessors. 
And  the  very  authority  that  was  created  for  the 
protection  of  the  interest  of  the  weak  and  innocent 
(the  people)  acting  as  agent  to  convey  the  earn- 
ings and  possessions  of  the  many  to  the  few  (the 
usurers  and  the  office  holders.) 

The  philosophy  of  our  present  financial  system 
is  the  cheapening  of  labor,  by  increasing  the 
purchasing  power  of  the  circulating  medium, 
centralizing  wealth  and  power  where  it  ought  to 
be  decentralization  of  capital  and  decentralization 
of  power. 


[Written  by  Ignatius  Batory,  September  6th,  1893.] 
[The  article  below  was  published  in  the  Bnltimnrc  Sun.] 

THE  LABOR  SITUATION. 


Mr.  Ignatius  Batory  writes  to  T/ic  Sun  as  fol- 
lows :  A  conflict  of  material  interest  is  steadily 
gnawing  at  the  peace  and  stability  of  society  and 
endangers  our  free  institutions.  \Vm.  H.  Seward 
once  stated  in  relation  to  slavery  and  freedom  that 
there  is  an  irrepressible  conflict  going  on,  and 
that  either  the  one  or  the  other  must  perish.  The 
consequences  and  the  result  of  the  above  con- 
ceived philosophy  arc  to-day  known  to  all  of  us. 
There  is  an  irrepressible  conflict  steadily  going  on 
to-day  between  the  many  and  the  few  in  regard  to 
the  division  of  the  surplus  earnings  of  the  human 
race. 

Some  believe  in  the  philosophy  of  a  divine  or 
providential,  and  consequently  destinal,  arrange- 
ment, that  the  humble,  the  ignorant,  the  credulous 
and  the  poor  must  look  to  the  hereafter  for  relief 
and  alleviation.  Some  again  believe  that  there 
.should  be  organized  or  establi.shed  by  law  a  grand 
^social  union,  national  in  its  conception  and  paternal 
in  its  aim — all  to  join  in  a  common  effort  to  pro- 
duce and   consume  the  products  of  physical  and 


56 

mental  labor — idem  est,  socialism — to  accomplish 
which  they  propose  to  regulate  the  hours  of  labor, 
the  price  to  be  paid  for  such  labor,  and  also  the 
division  of  the  surplus  profits  of  labor.  .  Others 
again  advocate  a  total  absorption  of  all  the  wealth 
by  the  government  through  the  respective  com- 
munities, and  hold  it  in  trust  for  the  use  and 
benefit  of  all  the  people ;  compel  each  individual 
to  do  a  share  of  production  for  the  common  fund 
of  stock — idem  est,  communism. 

There  are  also  a  great  number  of  men  who  are 
not  willing  to  accept  the  theories  of  either  of  the 
parties  mentioned  above,  namely,  of  those  who 
believe  in  the  poor  man's  destiny  in  a  reward  here- 
after, or  of  those  who  advocate  the  philosophy  of 
socialism,  nor  of  those  who  advocate  communism, 
and  having  nothing  to  propose  themselves,  make 
use  of  a  stratagem  that  demand  and  supply  does 
regulate  this  question.  They  don't  seem  to  know 
that  the  people  are  restless  upon  the  very  question 
of  demand  and  supply.  Now,  will  such  subterfuge, 
such  humbug  avert  the  irrepressible  conflict? 

Let  Democratic  and  Republican  statesmen  pon- 
der. The  people  are  restless.  One  ounce  of 
prevention  is  better  than  a  pound  of  cure.  Dema- 
gogism  among  the  politicians  and  demagogism 
among  the  people  must  be  met  to  avert  danger. 


57 

The  remedy  lies  in  a  strict  adherence  to  the 
spirit  and  letter  of  our  constitution.  The  material 
prosperity  of  the  confiding  people  must  be  made 
the  corner-stone  of  our  free  institutions  and  the 
aim  of  our  statesmen.  The  present  conceptions 
of  States'  philosophy,  States'  economy  and  finances 
must  be  abandoned  and  brought  back  to  the  sub- 
serviency of  the  material  welfare  of  the  people, 
and  not  as  at  present,  being  the  means  of  absorb- 
ing all  the  surplus  gains  of  physical  and  mental 
labor  by  the  few. 

The  interest  of  the  business  men,  manufacturers 
and  farmers  are  identical  with  the  laboring  men. 

It  is  the  politicians  and  the  legislativ^e  traffickers 
that  destroy  people's  chances  of  prosperity  and 
disturb  the  equanimity  of  our  institutions. 

Honesty,  coupled  with  ability,  must  be  invited 
to  re-enter  the  public  service ;  to  apply  its  capacity 
to  the  discovery  of  the  methods  that  will  lead  to 
the  solution  of  the  problem  that  naturally  is  attach- 
ed to  our  free  institutions — institutions  that  in  their 
wake  carry  the  necessity  to  make  the  citizen  ma- 
terially independent. 

The  philosophy  of  non-interference  by  the  few 
and  decentralization  of  power  mu.st  be  steadily 
kept  before  the  eye  of  the  mind  of  our  legislators. 
No  undue  advantage  ought  to  be  permitted  to 
exist  against   man    and    man.      Men   of  mind   and 


58 

honor  must  be  enlisted  into  the  service  of  the 
people  such  as  will  serve  the  people,  and  not  a 
party  nor  of  a  combination  of  men  for  selfish  ends. 
In  our  days  the  name  of  the  people  is  abused  by 
their  representatives  in  the  legislative  halls,  who 
cunningly  pass  laws  to  enable  the  few  to  absorb 
the  annual  surplus  of  earnings  of  the  race.  To 
maintain  our  peace  and  free  institutions  we  must 
seek  the  remedy.  //  ca7i  best  be  found  through  the 
agencies  of  economic  and  financial  legislation. 


\ 


[Written  by  Ignatius  Batory,  May  18th,  1888.] 

SOME  ECONOMIC  QUESTIONS. 


In  a  letter  to  TJic  Sun  on  current  questions  of 
the  day,  Mr.  Ignatius  Bator\'  a\  rites  as  follows : 

Usury  or  interest  on  the  circulating  inediiun  and 
indirect  taxation  are  the  tivo  monsters  that  have 
enslaved  the  many  to  the  few.  It  is  but  the  urbaric 
system  of  a  half  a  century  ago  renewed  in  an  in- 
direct manner;  changed  from  direct  oppression 
into  a  hidden  but  at  present  legalized  robbery. 
If  I  had  the  power  I  \\ould  have  laws  passed  that 
would  prevent  the  circulating  medium  from  obtain- 
ing income  or  profits  except  through  the  channels 
of  trade,  industry,  commerce,  agriculture  and  ship- 
ping. Such  action  would  increase  our  production 
and  commerce,  at  the  .same  time  multiply  the 
demand  for  labor,  and  greatly  increase  consump- 
tion of  the  products  of  the  nation.  Prevention  is 
better,  and  will  be  less  costly  to  society  than  an 
involuntary  cure.  State  i)hilosophy  dictates  the 
decentralization  of  power,  and  through  its  agency 
the  decentralization  of  wealth,  in  this  our  free 
republican  f(;rm  of  government.  This  duty  is 
devolved  upon  the  lawmaking  powers  in  Congress 


6o 


and  in  the  respective  States,  but  must  be  accom- 
plished in  harmony  with  the  c,r  post  facto  feature 
of  our  constitutions.  Wherever  there  are  iniqui- 
ties obtained  or  created  through  the  errors  or 
cunning  of  past  legislative  bodies,  they  ought  to 
be  looked  after  and  repealed.  Wherever  there  is 
a  system  that  has  grown  up  in  our  nation  that  has 
a  tendency  to  enable  the  few  to  obtain  income  or 
profits  from  the  many  without  returning  an  equiva- 
lent in  mental  or  physical  production,  there  the 
legislators  ought  to  step  in  and  apply  the  sovereign 
authority  by  enacting  preventives.  To  prevent  the 
possible  destruction  of  these  our  free  institutions, 
and  the  possible  ruin  of  all  the  accumulated  wealth, 
art  and  civilization,  including  the  maxim  of  viciini 
and  tuinn,  it  becomes  imperative  that  the  States' 
economy  and  States'  financial  system  should  be 
brought  in  harmony  with  the  States'  philosophical 
conceptions  of  the  framcrs  of  this  our  form  of 
government. 


[Written  by  Ignatius  Batory.] 

As  to  tlie  interest  of  v.-orkingmen  in  the  policy 
of  high  tariff  or  free  trade,  there  is  none  \n  his 
fa\-or  in  cither  instance.  It  is  always  against 
him.  The  annual  production  of  $7,000,000,000 
distributes  but  one-fifth  for  labor  or  earnings  of 
every  description  ;  the  balance  is  absorbed  by  an 
invisible  hand  through  the  agency  of  the  circulat- 
ing medium,  the  medium  of  exchange,  which  is  a 
system  created  by  law,  but  is  deceptive  and 
against  the  interest  of  those  who  create.  It  is 
immaterial  what  amount  of  wages  he  earns  per 
week,  the  cost  of  li\'ing  \vU\  always  grow  in  pro- 
portion. The  four-fifths  of  his  creation  he  will 
not  obtain  as  long  as  the  present  mode  of  legis- 
lation is  in  the  hands  of  men  whose  interest  is  on 
the  opposite  side. 

Our  American  States'  philosophy  is  all  right, 
but  our  States'  economy  and  States'  financial 
.systems  are  all  wrong.  Those  who  create  all 
wealth  arc  to  be  dupes  until  they  know  how  to 
legislate.  The  leaders  who  create  divisions 
amongst  the  labor  organizations  are  treacherous 
to  the  best  interest  of  the  poor,  ignoVant  and 
credulous  workingman  ;  unity  of  sentiment  and 
unity  of  action  is  imperative.  Kna\es  and  traitors 
alone  will  keep  the  people  divided.  Outside  of 
jiolitics  there  is  but  shame  and  ojjpres.'iion. 


I  Written  by  Ignatius  Batory.] 

COMMUNISM,    SOCIALISM    AND    SINGLE- 
TAX. 


Suppose  you  give  the  man  the  land,  can  he  till 
enough  of  it  by  Ijimself  at  the  present  day  to  ob- 
tain a  comfortable   living  for  himself  and   family, 
and   at  the   same  time   contribute   to   the    cost  of 
protecting  society? 

Can  he  utilize  labor  or  time  profitably  enough 
to  maintain  himself  and  family  from  cutting  timber, 
or  from  free  fishing?  At  best  in  either  instance 
he  will  but  ooze  out  a  life,  miserably. 

The  intellect  of  the  human  race  has  been  devel- 
oped "immensely"  in  this  century.  Education 
has  become  general  and  the  tastes  and  cravings 
for  comfort  have  steadily  been  growing  in  the 
people  proportionately  to  that  development. 

Industry  to-day  creates  things  that  our  ancestors 
never  dreamt  of,  and  consequently  had  no  crav- 
ing for  such. 

The  annual  income  of  the  laboring  people  of  the 
present  day  is  manifold  larger  than  it  was  a  century 
ago,  but  the  necessities  and  cravings  of  to-day 
being  developed  in  the  ratio  of  our  industrial 
development,  causes  want  and  consequent  suffering. 


63 

The  remedy  is  not  and  never  will  become  effec- 
tive either  through  communism  nor  through  the 
modern  socialism  or  single-taxism. 

It  can  be  accomplished  through  the  agencies 
that  underly  the  philosophy  of  our  institutions,  if 
properly  conceived  and  acted  upon.  Non-interfer- 
ence by  the  few  against  the  earnings  of  physical 
and  mental  labor  of  the  people  and  decentraliza- 
tion of  capital  (money),  are  the  guiding  stars  that 
will  ultimately  lead  this  nation  to  the  much  de- 
sired object  of  the  prosperity  of  every  American 
household.  Each  citizen  will  be  independent  in 
his  own  orbit.  The  people  will  be  protected  from 
indirect  injury  as  well  as  from  direct  attack. 

The  credulous,  the  ignorant,  the  confiding,  the 
debased  will  find  protection  through  impartial 
legislation?  Personal  liberty  will  go  hand  in  hand 
with  material  prosperity  and  independence. 

Material  prosperity  in  every  American  house- 
hold is  and  must  be  per  sc  the  outcome  of  our 
free  institutions.  Self  governmen  when  properly 
comprehended  by  the  majority  of'the  people  will 
accomplish  it.  Ik-  assured  it  is  not  an  impossi- 
bility. 


EVOLUTION,  OR    MORE    CLEARLY  CON. 
CEIVABLE  AND  BETTER  DEFINED 
AND  UNDERSTOOD  AMALGA- 
MATION. 


It  is  nature's  tendency  to  amalgamate  "the 
human  race,"  not  only  physically  but  also 
spiritually  and  mentally. 

The  mind  of  the  human  family  is  more  sus- 
ceptible to  amalgamation  and  mingling  than  the 
physical  body,  as  the  mind  forces  its  influence 
imperceptibly  and  invisibly  upon  the  mind  of 
fellowmen..  Therefore,  there  is  no  resistance  or 
repugnance  to  hinder  the  immutable. 

The  tiling  that  must  come,  surely  will  conic. 

The  human  family  is  destined  to  be  acknowl- 
edged by  all  mortals  at  some  future  day,  as  one 
brotherhood  and  sisterhood. 

The  question  arises,  shall  it  be  a  common 
family?  Fed  from  a  public  kitchen,  clothed  from 
a  public  warehouse,  sheltered  in  public  lodgings, 
entertained  in  public  parlors  and  theatres,  all  to 
be  owned  by  the  State  or  the  States. 

On  the  other  hand,  shall  all  production  be 
co-operative  or  mutual?     Or  shall  it  be  individu- 


65 

ality,  as  at  present,  each  individual  striving  for 
himself,  and  indirectl)^  for  the  community  at  large, 
moving  in  his  own  orbit,  obtaining  all  the  benefits 
from  his  physical  and  mental  powers  that  nature 
endowed  him  or  her  w'ith,  subject  "only"  to  the 
rules,  regulations  and  laws  of  the  community,  each 
individual  obtaining  protection  for  himself  and 
guaranteeing  protection  to  all  others,  maintaining 
''individuality'  and  independence  under  the  restric- 
tion of  "non-interference,"  either  through  direct 
or  indirect  methods,  with  the  interest  of  others. 

If  preventives  are  enacted  by  the  law-making 
power,  it  will  cause  decentralization  of  tvealth,  "at 
present  in  the  hands  of  the  fezv,''  just  as  certain  as 
the  present  methods  do,  in  an  indirect  manner, 
cause  centralization  of  wealth  and  consequently 
centralization  of  power.  For  the  centralization 
of  wealth  means  also  centralization  of  power,  and 
is  a  sure  destructive  element  of  the  freedofn,  happi- 
ness and  independence  of  the  citizens.  "It  is  the 
duty  of  the  State  to  guard  against  such  a  possi- 
bility." Therefore  to  obtain  prosperity,  wc  must 
protect  the  personal  interest  of  the  citizen  against 
indirect  injury  and  prejudice  ;  we  must  create  a 
financial  system  that  will  have  a  tendency  to  en- 
hance the  value  of  physical  and  mental  labor, 
by  multiplying  the  demand  for  the  same.  State's 
economy  is  not  to  save,  to  diminish,  to  contract,  or 


66 


io  hoard,  but  to  spend,  to  increase,  to  expand  and  to 
disburse. 

The  economy  of  the  citizen  to  advance  his  per- 
sonal interest  should  not  be  confounded  with  the 
economy  of  the  State.  The  first  does  well  to 
hold  on  to  all  he  can  "honorably."  The  last,  the 
State,  does  best  by  disbursing  all. 

It  is  the  "prerogative,"  the  exclusive  right  of 
the  State  and  community,  to  control  the  disburse- 
ment of  the  surplus  earnings  of  the  people  so  it 
may  cause  rotation  in  the  channels  of  trade, 
industry,  agriculture,  commerce  and  shipping, 
from  whence  the  prosperity  of  the  people  emanates. 

The  equitable  division  of  the  surplus  earnings  of 
the  nation,  therefore,  is  the  great  problem  of  the  day. 

This  question  has  at  different  times  forced  itself 
to  the  attention  of  our  law-makers,  but  as  a  rule 
it  was  dismissed  as  a  matter  that  will  adjust  itself 
through  demand  and  supply, 

At  present  our  economic  system  enables  the 
few  by  and  through  the  assistance  of  a  false  "theory 
of  finances"  to  absorb  the  major  part  of  the  pro- 
duction of  the  many — "the  nation." 

The  legislative  and  administrative  branches  of  the 
government,  ''States  and  National,''  indirectly  are 
favoring  such  outcome,  and  at  times  even  the  courts 
have  been  made  available  to  further  this  conccfi- 
trated  and  gradually  more  and  more  grasping  pozver. 

What  is  to  be  done  ?     Where  is  the  remedy  ? 


^7 

[Written  bj'  Ignatius  Batory.l 

Not  willing  to  claim  superiority  over  any  other 
proposed  remedy,  we  still  feel  that  it  is  our  duty 
to  ourselves  and  to  the  inceptions  of  truth,  justice, 
equity  and  impartiality,  that  underlies  our  propo- 
sition, to  claim  that  our  States'  philosophy, 
States'  economy  and  States'  finances  as  presented 
by  us  in  the  year  1868,  and  republished  in  this 
pamphlet,  possesses  the  advantage  of  being  har- 
monious with  our  present  constitutions  and  laws, 
not  being  in  any  way  in  conflict  with  the  ex ,  post 
facto  feature  of  our  constitution. 

Securing  to  each  citizen  protection  under  the 
laws  remedying  the  future  (and  not  the  past),  pre- 
\enting  in  an  indirect  manner,  through  legislation, 
the  interference  by  the  rich,  the  cunning  and  the 
scheming  politicians,  with  the  mental  and  physical 
productive  capacities  of  men,  in  the  future,  caus- 
ing hereafter  each  individual  to  be  independent  in 
himself,  working  hours  to  suit  his  purpose  and 
interest  best,  obtaining  remuneration  in  accord- 
ance with  his  skill,  ability  and  perseverance. 
Enhancing  labor  by  the  circumstance  of  prevent- 
ing either  capital  or  land  to  obtain  an  undue 
advantage  through  legislation. 

Poverty  of  the  people  arises  from  the  circum- 
stance that  the  surplus  profits  from  productive 
mental  and  physical  labor  arc  absorbed  by  the  few 
favored  ones  by  the  aid  of  legislation. 


68 

States'  philosophy,  States'  economy  and  finan- 
ces are  three  distinct  sciences.  Still  they  are 
inseparable  in  their  nature,  for  the  failure  of  one 
causes  the  failure  of  all  three. 


[Written  by  Ignatius  Batory.] 

States  philosophy,  States'  economy  and  finances, 
the  three  inseparable  sciences,  the  failure  in  one  the 
failure  in  all. 

Jt  is  not  comprehensible  to  the  ordinary  mind 
of  man  that  it  is  easier  to  level  society  down  than 
to  elevate  it,  for  it  requires  comprehensive  capacity 
and  skill  to  elevate,  where  want  of  comprehension 
and  consequent  failure  will  accomplish  the  lower- 
ing down  of  the  material,  moral  and  comprehen- 
sive capacity  of  society,  and  destroy  its  noblest 
aspirations. 

Our  present  generation  is  absolutely  baffled  in 
her  career  through  the  machinations  of  her  leaders, 
in  whose  minds  there  is  no  science  but  one,  and 
that  is  politics  as  a  trade,  with  its  adjuncts  of 
bribeiy,  ballot-box  stuffing,  repeating,  perjury, 
intimidation  and  ultimate  fleecing  of  the  betrayed. 

Under  such  circumstances  prosperity  and  happi- 
ness becomes  an  impossibility. 

The  foundation  of  State's  economy  rests  upon 
the  employment  of  labor,  not  as  much  by  the 
State  directly  as  through  the  circumstances  crea- 
ted through  legislation. 


[Written  by  Ignatius  Batory,  May  17th,  18&5.] 

TRUE  AND  FALSE  CONVICTIONS. 


Men  generally  assume  and  state  so,  that  this  or 
that  is  their  conviction,  where  in  fact  there  is 
probably  but  one  in  a  thousand  who  has  ever 
formed  an  independent  conviction.  To  form  a 
conviction  we  must  exercise  our  vision,  our  hear- 
ing and  our  best  mental  faculties  :  vision  to  ex- 
amine by  where  necessary,  hearing  to  obtain 
information  pro  and  con,  and  mind  to  mature  by,  to 
enable  us  to  obtain  a  conviction.  Convictions 
assumed  from  other  sources  are  but  believes,  and 
believes  are  but  structures  without  a  foundation. 


[Written  by  Ig-natius  Batory,  Aiitrust  Uth,  1879.1 

We  must  guard  against  a  landed  aristocracy  ; 
for  if  we  ever  succeed  to  force  the  circulating 
medium  into  the  channels  of  trade,  by  such  legis- 
lation that  w  ill  prevent  it  hereafter  from  obtaining 
income  "through  the  medium  (jf  interest  on  credit 
investments,"  they  will  certainly  instantly  seek  to 
monopolize  the  renting  power  of  real  estates,  and 
through  such  agency,  obtain  a  controlling  foot- 
hold  over  (Hir  commerce,  industry,  and   trade   in 


70 

general  ;  and  reinstate  thettiselves  in  a  position 
towards  society  "that  will  enable  them  to  obtain 
the  surplus  production  (the  increase  of  annual 
wealth)  of  mental  and  physical  labor,  causing  the 
steady  centralization  of  wealth  in  the  hands  of  a 
few  non-producers,  as  at  present.  For  such  is  the 
aim  of  all  monopolies  ! 


[Written  by  Ignatius  Batory,  January  1st,  1888.] 

Discussion  of  the  economic  questions  that  force 
themselves  upon  our  present  generation,  and 
threaten  to  disturb  the  equanimity  of  our  people, 
if  not  the  destruction  of  our,  the  most  equitable, 
the  most  judicious,  the  most  beneficial  and  most 
free  form  of  government. 

From  observations  and  convictions,  in  relation 
to  the  question  of  States'  Economy,  Finances,  and 
States'  Philosophy,  as  relating  to  the  present  labor 
agitation  and  unrest,  as  conceived  by  me,  through 
a  period  of  more  than  one-half  of  a  century. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  combat  or  approve 
"  theories  or  teachings  "  of  other  worthy  men  and 
citizens,  who  honestly  teach  what  they  believe  to 
be  truth,  therefore,  ought  not  to  be  blamed  for  the 
fallibility  of  men. 

I  am  not  in  conflict  with  the  George  land  theory, 
for  while  it    is  not  a   remedy  to  accomplish   the 


71 

deliverance  of  the  people,  it  is  true  in  its  incep- 
tions, that  the  earth  belongs  to  the  whole  of  the 
human  race,  as  a  gift  by  the  Creator.  And  the 
proposed  method  of  taxation  is  legal  and  within 
the  powers  of  States  and  National  government, 
capable  of  dispossessing  its  present  holders. 

The  iniquities  that  rest  upon  the  shoulders  of 
the  many,  in  favor  of  the  few,  at  present  in  this 
country,  are  manifold,  antl  like  a  very  weighty 
bridge  on  pillars,  the  removal  of  one  pillar  increases 
the  pressure  on  the  others.  And  in  a  true  sense 
there  is  no  relief  whatever. 

The  proposition  to  raise  all  taxes  from  land 
would  not  prevent  the  {^t^^  from  absorbing  the 
surplus  earnings  or  profits  of  the  nation,  derived 
from  physical  and  mental  labor.  Such  absorption 
is  done  through  the  agencies  of  interest  on  the 
circulating  medium,  bonds,  stocks,  mortgages, 
ground  rents,  discounts,  unlimited  railroad  charges 
for  freight  and  passengers,  and  manifold  combina- 
tions and  tariffs  to  enhance  articles  and  commodi- 
ties that  enter  the  daily  consumption  of  the  people. 

All  these  evils  can  be  prevented  by  abolishing 
the  right  to  sue  in  court,  or  to  collect  by  process  and 
assi.stance  of  the  courts.  The  credit  sy.stem  and 
the  right  to  sue  for  collection  of  voluntary-given 
credits  on  one  hand,  and  indirect  taxation  on  the 
other,  are  the  Hvo  monsters  that  have  enslaved  the 
many  to  the  few. 


*r 


72 

It  is  but  the  urbaric  system  of  half  a  centun 
ago  renewed  in  an  indirect  manner.  Changed 
from  direct  oppression  into  a  hidden  robbery. 

Prevention  is  better  and  Avill  be  less  costly  to 
society  than  an  inv^oluntary  cure.  States'  Philoso- 
phy dictates  the  decentralization  of  power,  and 
through  its  agency  the  decentralization  of  wealth 
in  this  our  free  republican  form  of  government. 

This  duty  is  devolved  upon  the  law-making 
powers  in  Congress  and    in  the  respective  States. 

Wherever  there  are  iniquities  obtained  or  created 
through  the  errors  or  cunning  of  past  legislative 
bodies,  they  ought  to  be  looked  after  and  repealed. 
Wherever  there  is  a  system  that  has  grown  up  in 
our  nation,  that  has  a  tendency  to  enable  the  few 
to  obtain  income  or  profits  from  the  many,  without 
returning  an  equivalent  in  mental  or  physical  labor, 
there  the  legislators  ought  to  step  in  and  apply  the 
sovereign  authority  of  legislative  pruning. 

To  prevent  the  possible  destruction  of  these,  our 
free  institutions,  and  the  possible  ruin  of  all  the 
accumulated  wealth,  art  and  civilization,  including 
the  maxim  of  vicum  and  tmon,  it  is  imperative 
that  the  States'  economy  and  States'  financial 
system  should  be  brought  in  harmony  with  the 
States'  philosophical  conceptions  of  the  framers  of 
our  form  of  government. 

/;/  obso-vationis  legcnda  natiira  non  est  criminis. 


["Written  by  Iguatius  Batory,  April  13tli,  1886.] 

IS  THERE  ANY  WONDER   THAT  THERE 

IS  A  PERIODICAL  GROAN  OF 

DISTRESS  ? 


The  present  system  of  laws,  as  relating  to  the 
financial  and  State  economical  management  by  the 
States  and  the  United  States  administrations,  are 
calculated  to  insure  a  large  part  of  the  production 
that  emanates  from  the  physical  and  mental  labors 
of  the  people  annually,  to  a  source  that  never  pro- 
duces anything,  commonly  known  as  "  income  on 
investments."  Those  holding  and  possessing  these 
investments  have  no  interest  in  the  increase  or 
multiplication  of  production,  as  their  share  of  the 
aggregate  profits  in  hard  times,  or  surplus  profits 
in  good  times,  of  the  people's  making,  is  securely 
brought  to  them  periodically,  by  and  through  the 
medium  of  the  established  authorities,  of  the  States 
or  of  the  United  States. 

The  custom  house,  the  internal  revenue  depart- 
ment, and  the  tax  gatherers,  are  the  mediums  of 
the  constituted  authorities,  through  which  the 
annual  surplus  is  taken  to  the  few  from  the  many. 
This  is  what  creates  the  rich  and  the  poor.  This 
much  is  the  direct  cause  of  society's  endangered 
position  of  this  day. 


74 

To  this  is  allied  the  system  that  legalizes  the 
use  of  the  circulating  medium  (money)  on  usury, 
such  as  mortgages,  ground  rents,  loans,  etc. 

On  the  other  hand,  nearly  all  these  investments 
are  exempt  of  taxation,  which  causes  the  burden 
of  the  States,  respectively,  and  the  United  States, 
in  general,  to  be  upon  the  shoulders  of  those  who 
are  least  able  to  stand  it. 

Is  there  any  tvonder  that  there  is  a  periodical  groan 
of  distress? 

Where  is  the  remedy  ?  Is  it  in  labor  unions  ? 
No  !  Is  it  in  co-operative  shops  ?  No  !  Is  it  in 
strikes  ?  No  !  Is  it  in  anti-prison  labor  system  ? 
No!  Is  it  in  arbitration?  No!  Is  it  in  civil 
service  reform?  No  !  Is 'it  in  compulsory  copart- 
nership? No!  Is  it  in  eight  hour  laws?  No! 
Can  socialism  remedy  it  ?  No  ?  Can  communism 
remedy  it  ?  No !  Partnernships  between  employers 
and  employes  ?  No  !  Where,  then,  is  the  remedy  ? 
It  is  in  honest,  intelligent,  judicious,  impartial  and 
constitutional  legislation. 

Upon  all  financial  and  States'  economical  ques- 
tions, the  vote  of  labor,  if  intelligently  managed, 
can  accomplish  it  by  sending  to  Congress  men 
who  are  by  occupation,  mental  training  and  sym- 
pathy in  harmony  with  the  material  interest  of 
those  who  labor,  physically  or  mentally. 


[Written  by  Ig-natius  Batory.] 

TARIFF. 


I. 

Tariff  is  naturally  a  tax  on  the  article  that  some 
one  needs,  consequently  is  paid  by  the  consumer. 
It  follows  that  a  high  tariff  is  a  high  tax  and  a 
lower  tariff  is  a  lower  tax  upon  those  who  need 
the  respective  articles.  It  does  incidentally  pro- 
tect some  industry  proportionately  as  the  amount 
of  tax  collected.  But  the  benefit  accrues  to  but  a 
few,  and  stands  as  special  legislation  in  favor  of  a 
few  against  the  many.  It  is  class  legislation,  not 
in  harmony  with  free  government.  Direct  taxa- 
tion, in  proportton  to  wealth  possessed,  is  the 
method  that  can  and  will  assist  to  secure  the  pros- 
perity of  the  many — "the  poor." 

2. 

If  a  chapter  is  not  clear  to  your  mind,  read  it 
over  and  over  again,  till  you  perceive  its  wisdom 
or  folly. 

3- 

The  writer  has  patience  with  the  fallibility  and 
ignorance  of  men.     Therefore  be  charitable. 


76 


4- 

The  ablest  young  men  in  the  land  can't  make  a 
successful  honest  stand,  simply  because  the  invis- 
ible hand  of  governmental  legislation  is  against 
the  possibility  of  their  success. 

Dislodge  the  usurer,  the  Wall-street  gambler, 
the  trusts  and  the  courts  to  collect  by,  and  your 
chances  of  making  a  living  in  commerce,  industry 
and  agriculture  will  be  restored  like  magic.  And 
the  independence  of  the  man  will  be  joined  by 
prosperity  of  the  man. 

5- 
The  interest  of  England  is  to  prevent  the  masses 
in  India  from  becoming  prosperous,  educated  or 
independent.  The  people  of  India  are  subjects  to 
the  crown  of  England,  and  can  but  be  kept  there 
through  poverty,  ignorance  and  submissiveness. 
About  four  dollars  per  capita  is  her  circulation. 
A  nation  of  two  hundred  and  eighty  million  people 
to  be  kept  down  by  a  handful  of  Englishmen, 
naturally  must  be  governed  by  a  State  philosophy 
different  from  ours. 


There  is  an  indivisibility  between  the  human 
being's  mental  and  physical  necessities  and  pro- 
ductions.     The  more  the  one  produces,  the  more 


17 

the  other  craves  for  ;  the  more  the  other  devises, 
the  more  the  one  produces. 

It  is  marvelous,  but  it  is  in  keeping  with  the 
wisdom  and  forethought  of  our  invisible  and  our 
incomprehensible  Maker. 

It  seems  room  for  all  and  plent\-  for  all  was  the 
object  and  intent  of  our  Maker. 

7- 
Liberty,  independence  and  rights,  secured  and 
guaranteed  by  Bill  of  Rights  or  Constitutions,  are 
but  expressions  or  assertions  that  bring  no  good, 
except  the  people  or  those  entrusted  by  them  with 
the  leadership,  give  force  and  character  to  the 
spirit  and  letter  of  such.  (Constitution  or  Bill  of 
Rights. )     Every  citizen  must  be  alive  to  the  issue. 

8. 

The  best  remedy  for  the  people  to  relieve  them- 
selves of  the  oppressive  present,  and  attain  a  better 
future,  is  always  this :  Change  the  men  and  party 
that  represent  the  pre.sent  and  the  past  into  a  party 
for  a  better  future. 

If  your  country  is  in  a  condition  that  you  can't 
earn  an  honest  livelihood  through  diligent  labor  or 
any  other  honest  calling,  then  your  laws  and  law- 
makers arc  at  fault.  And  it  is  your  duty  to  change 
them,  irrespective  of  by  what  ])arty  name  they 
may  be  known. 


78 

9- 

Grasping  for  power,  for  power  gives  them  money, 
and  money  keeps  them  in  power,  the  two  go 
together  ;  just  so  goes  poverty  and  subjugation. 

Why  not  decentralize  capital  and  power  and 
prevent  poverty  and  subjugation  of  the  people? 

lO. 

The  human  being  is  like  the  flying  star  that 
illuminates  the  surrounding  heavens  in  its  flight 
and  disappears,  but  differs  in  consequences.  For 
while  the  one  leaves  no  trace  behind,  the  other 
inspires  his  fellow-beings  to  thought,  action  and 
results. 

II. 

The  great  curse  that  weighs  upon  society  so 
heavily  centres  in  the  conception  of  the  word 
"interest."  Interest  on  investments,  instead  of 
profits  from  undertakings.  The  first  is  obtained 
out  of  society's  possessions  already  acquired  with- 
out risk  or  employment  of  physical  or  mental 
labor.  Where  to  obtain  profits  the  second  is 
bound  to  take  risks  by  employing  labor,  which 
causes  them  to  be  incidentally  benefactors  to 
society  at  large. 


79 


12. 


The  value  of  money  or  capital  (circulating 
medium  or  medium  of  exchange)  increases  or 
diminishes  proportionately,  as  it  is  enabled  to 
invest  itself  in  interest-bearing  securities.  And 
commerce,  industr}-,  agriculture,  &c.,  are  pre- 
judiced or  benefited  accordingly. 

Legislation  should  aim  to  cause  capital  to  seek 
profits  in  the  diverse  channels  of  industry,  com- 
merce and  agriculture,  for  which  it  naturally  was 
created,  which  can  but  be  accomplisheci  by  dimin- 
ishing its  chances  of  profitable  usury. 

Monopolies  to  obtain  exorbitant  profits  in  their 
undertakings  must  have  a  surplus  of  labor  to 
enrich  themselves. 

Competition  in  the  labor  market  is  indispensable 
to  their  aims.  Protected  by  high  tariffs,  they  arc 
secured  against  outside  competition,  and  the  em- 
ployment of  thou.sands  of  hands  in  the  under- 
taking, enables  them  to  obtain  labor  at  their  own 
price.  A  reduction  of  twenty-five  cents  per  day 
increases  their  treasury  by  thousands  of  dollars 
daily. 


[Written  by  Ignatius  Batory.] 

The  silver  question,  simple  in  itself,  has  been 
for  years  a  favorite  theme  for  designing  bankers, 
usurers  and  servile  legislators.  The  amount  of 
"nonsense"  that  was  spoken  about  it,  "apparently 
with  fervor,"  in  the  House  of  Congress,  in  the 
United  States  Senate,  and  in  the  columns  of  the 
daily  and  monthly  (scientific)  press,  would  more 
than  gird  the  globe.  It  was  all  done  to  confound 
the  people  ;  those  interested  know  that  in  muddy 
water  is  good  fishing.  As  to  trade,  industry, 
commerce,  agriculture  or  shipping,  it  is  immaterial 
if  our  currency  is  silver,  paper  or  gold,  as  its 
stable  value  depends  on  the  credit  and  guarantee 
of  the  government.  To  obviate  this  confounded 
question  in  the  future,  let  the  government  recoin 
all  gold  and  silver  coins  upon  a  basis  of  eighty 
cents  to  the  dollar,  guaranteeing  the  one-fifth,  and 
make  it  redeemable  at  all  time  in  full  in  bullion, 
silver  or  gold  at  market  value  at  the  option  of  the 
holder.  This  would  also  prevent  the  exportation 
or  hoarding  of  coins. 

Gold  and  silver  must  be  kept  a  commodity,  and 
the  legal  tender  "money"  should  be  prevented 
from  becoming  a  commodity,  by  lessening  its 
intrinsic  value.  Therefore,  a  portion  of  it  should 
be  based  upon  the  credit  of  the  government. 


8i 

The  idea  or  conception  that  our  dollar  must  be 
worth  a  hundred  cents  in  the  metal  is  treacherous 
and  misleading".  For  it  enables  hoarding,  export- 
ing and  "manipulating,"  creating  artificial  scarcity 
of  money  and  consequent  depreciation  of  the 
possessions  of  the  people,  including  labor,  and  is 
in  favor  of  those  who  possess  the  ready  cash, 
and  live  on  interest  or  usury. 


[Written  by  Ignatius  Batory,  Baltimore,  November,  1889.] 

THE  PAN  AMERICAN  CONGRESS. 


Presumably  this  Congress  was  invited  by  our 
American  Statesmen,  for  the  purpose  of  gaining 
the  good  will  and  wishes  of  these  small  American 
States,  through  the  agencies  of  showing  them  our 
mechanical,  industrial,  commercial  and  agricul- 
tural progress.  As  also  our  military  possibilities 
in  case  of  war  with  foreign  nations. 

It  is  well  to  gain  the  reputation  and  respect  of 
these  weak  nationalities  and  influence  their  future 
policy  and  action,  and  endeavor  to  gain  their  com- 
mercial  favors.  But  as  interest  rules  men,  it  also 
rules  nations,  we  may  be  outbid  at  some  future 
day  by  others. 

I  suggest  a  method  that  will  hold  good  for  all 
time  coming,  and  will  make  their  and  our  com- 
merce inseparable,  namely :  Let  the  Pan-Ameri- 
can Congress  unite  upon  the  following  plan  for  a 
uniform  circulating  medium  (money): 

Let  the  American  Nation  and  each  of  the  respec- 
tive States  represented  in  the  congress,  agree  to 
recoin  all  the  gold  and  silver  coins  in  circulation 
at  present  in  their  respective  countries,  and  issue 


83 

instead,  a  new  coin  upon  the  basis  of  four-fifths 
(5)  value,  namely:  eighty  cents  of  the  respective 
metals,  to  represent  a  legal  dollar,  each  govern- 
ment promising  to  redeem  at  all  times  its  legal 
coins  in  bullion,  say  in  not  less  than  twenty  dol- 
lars. That  is  to  say,  although  the  dollar  contains 
but  eighty  cents  of  the  metal,  the  respective 
governments  will,  in  exchange,  give  one  hundred 
cents  worth  of  the  metal,  in  bullion,  optional  with 
the  respective  governments  to  pay  either  in  silver 
or  gold  bullion.  Each  nation  may  retain  its 
national  emblem  or  imprint  on  the  coins  as  at 
present  in  vogue.  Such  coin  of  uniform  value, 
would  soon  be  accepted  as  a  medium  of  exchange 
for  commodities  between  these  American  nations 
and  stimulate  commercial  intercourse.  It  would 
place  the  smallest  of  these  nations  upon  an  equality 
basis  with  our  own  nation,  and  consequently  could 
not  but  be  pleasing  to  all.  Indirectly,  it  will  pre- 
vent the  hoarding  of  the  circulating  medium  by 
speculators  and  keep  it  for  what  it  is  created,  as  a 
medium  of  exchange.  Industry-,  trade,  commerce 
and  shipping  will  profit  by  it,  for  it  will  not  be 
exported  to  foreign  lands  on  account  of  its  less 
intrinsic  value  than  the  bullion  that  is  obtainable 
at  pleasure. 

The  great  problem  of  society  in  the  near  future 
is,  anyhow,  to  prevent  the  circulating^  medium  from 


84 

making  any  profit  or  income  outside  of  trade,  com- 
merce, industry,  agriculture  or  shipping,  for  the 
retention  of  the  circulating  medium  in  the  above 
enumerated  channels  will  surely  multiply  the 
demand  for  labor  and  create  general  prosperity. 


[Written  by  Ig-uatius  Batory.J 

The  war  for  the  elimination  "of  the  unavoidable 
mistake  of  the  fathers  of  the  republic"  from  our 
political  system  (slavery)  has  entailed  upon  our 
nation  an  immense  cost  in  lives,  destruction  of 
property  and  public  debt.  No  honest  citizen  will 
question  the  sacred  duty  of  the  nation  to  liquidate 
the  debt  in  full.  Our  form  of  government  is  a 
three-fold — legislative,  administrative  and  judici- 
ary. There  has  of  late  years  arisen  a  question  of 
great  material  importance  to  the  people  of  this 
country,  in  regard  to  the  power  of  Congress  to 
authorize  the  issuance  of  legal  tender  paper 
money.  This  question  has  happily  been  decided 
by  the  highest  court  of  the  land  in  favor  of  such 
power  possessed  in  Congress. 

The  Democratic  platform  has  repudiated  that 
decision,  although  the  Democratic  majority  in 
Congress  has  not  seen  fit  to  pa.ss  a  bill  to  verify 
their  assumption,  that  the  legal  tender  power  is 
not  ju.stifiablc.  The  Republican  party  for  the  last 
twenty  years  in  power  'after  the  war"  has  done 
all  and  everything  to  saddle  the  people  with 
burdens  in  public  obligations  and  monopolies,  the 
consequences  of  which  are  causing  our  present 
materially  distressed  condition,  growing  out  of  the 


86 


centralization  of  wealth  and  power  in  the  hands  of 
the  few. 

The  advent  of  the  Democratic  party  ascending 
to  power  entails  upon  it  the  responsibilty  of  solv- 
ing the  labor  question.  It  involves  questions  of 
States'  philosophy,  States'  economy  and  States' 
finances  from  a  new  point  of  view,  assimilative 
with  the  requirements  and  object  of  our  free  insti- 
tutions. It  also  involves  the  regulations  of  the 
functions  of  the  circulating  medium,  taxation,  and 
the  source  from  where  it  may  be  drawn.  Charter- 
ed privileges,  (that  grant  prerogatives  indirectly) 
and  the  observation  of  constitutional  limitations, 
and  other  kindred  questions. 

The  first  step  to  solve  the  labor  question,  or  in 
other  words,  to  improve  the  condition  and  to 
secure  material  prosperity  to  those  who  either 
mentally  or  physically  labor  and  create  all  that 
we  society  enjoy,  is  to  enlist  into  the  service  of  the 
administration  of  affairs  of  the  nation,  men  who 
are  able,  honest,  generous,  patriotic  and  disinter- 
ested ;  men  who  have  proven  reliable  and  worthy 
in  private  life  ;  men  who  will  apply  all  their  quali- 
fications for  the  perfection  of  our  free  institutions  ; 
men  who  will  guard  the  interest  of  those  who 
through  circumstances  created  by  poverty,  were 
forced  into  a  condition  of  credulity  and  dependence  ; 
men  who  will  apply  their  whole  being  for  the  solu- 


87 

tion  of  the  problem  of  decentralizing  power  and 
wealth  in  an  equitable  and  lawful  manner;  men 
who  will  not  look  upon  the  office  as  a  creation  for 
their  special  purpose,  commonly  known  as  poli- 
ticians, wlio  make  politics  a  livelihood,  who  after 
they  obtain  office  feel  no  other  responsibility. 

An  honest  Congress  and  administration  to  begin 
with  is  the  inevitable  necessity  for  the  improve- 
ment of  the  material  condition  of  American  house- 
holds. Such  can  never  be  accomplished  through 
the  men  who  wielded  power  in  the  last  fifteen 
year.s-,  be  they  Republican  or  Democratic  poli- 
ticians. They  are  but  schemers  for  self-aggran- 
dizement and  unable  to  comprehend  or  grasp  the 
complicated  questions  that  slumber  like  a  volcano 
beneath  our  social  fabric,  which  when  stimulated 
by  want,  superinduced  by  the  suspension  of  com- 
mercial and  industrial  activity,  may  burst  forth  at 
a  time  when  least  expected,  and  cause  destruction 
to  most  of  what  civilization  and  peace  jn  our 
midst  has  created  for  half  a  century.  Prevention 
is  surer  than  cure.  Forethought  is  forearmed. 
Let  us  have  a  truly  honest  administration  of 
public  affairs.  Material  prosperity  in  the  house- 
hold, is  the  corner-stone  of  true  independence  and 
moral  civilization.  Politicians  of  the  past  are  not 
the  men  who  can  accomplish  much  good.  Honesty 
and  truthfulness  are  rarely  in  them.      Let  us  obey 


88 

the  laws  as  they  are,  call  in  the  public  debt,  pay- 
it  in  legal  tenders.  Relieve  the  people  of  the 
interest.  It  will  force  the  capitalists  into  enter- 
prises that  will  benefit  mental  and  physical  labor. 
This  is  the  first  step  to  solve  the  labor  problem. 


I 


[Written  by  Ignatius  Batory.] 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States  have  decided  that  Congress, 
acting  for  the  people,  has  the  power  to  issue  legal 
tender  paper  money  for  all  purposes.  The  demo- 
cratic party  leaders,  while  dissenting  from  that 
decision,  and  having  seen  fit  to  express  their  dissent 
in  the  platform  of  1884,  have,  nevertheless,  since 
their  advent  to  power,  not  ventured  either  to 
approve  nor  to  challenge  that  decision. 

The  right  of  the  people  to  issue  legal  tender 
paper  money  is,  at  the  present  juncture  of  our 
commercial  and  industrial  condition,  of  immense 
consequence. 

The  issuance  of  legal  tender  circulating  medium 
either  by  the  respective  States  or  by  the  United 
States,  becomes  at  this  juncture  of  our  industrial 
condition  an  unavoidable  necessity.  //  is  the  lever 
that  alone  can  quicken  the  motion  of  trade,  commerce, 
industry  and  shipping  and  enhance  agriculture. 

It  is  an  admitted  fact  that  there  is  a  disparaging 
condition  between  those  who  create  the  wealth  and 
tho.se  who  po.ssess  the  wealth  of  the  nation. 

The  controversy  is  not  as  to  the  existing  facts, 
but  as  to  the  sources  of  the  evil,  and  the  means  of 
remedy. 


90 

To  inflict  injury  and  inequality  upon  the  major- 
ity of  the  people,  the  cunning  few  have  used  the 
legislative  power,  irr  violation  of  the  fundamental 
principles  of  the  constitution.  To  restore  equity 
to  our  people  we  must  return  to  the  first  principles, 
as  enunciated  by  the  fathers  of  the  Constitution. 

It  is  the  interest  of  the  wealthy  to  arrogate 
powers  beyond  the  constitutional  limit,  under 
plausible,  but  false  pretenses.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  interest  of  the  poor  is  to  cling  to  the  strict  con- 
struction of  the  limited  powers  as  provided  by  the 
Constitution.  As  the  first  leads  to  the  concentra- 
tion of  wealth,  the  second  is  .a  preventive  and  is 
calculated  to  shield  the  people  from  aggression  by 
the  designing  few. 

The  non-adherence  till  now  by  both  parties,  to 
the  decision  of  the  United  Slates  Supreme  Court 
in  relation  to  the  issue  of  legal  tender,  and  ignor- 
ing its  possibilities  in  a  commercial  and  prosperity 
point  of  view,  proves  their  shameful  indifference 
to  the  people's  interest  and  welfare. 

There  are  at  present  outstanding  nearly  fourteen 
hundred  millions  of  United  States  bonds  that  are 
subject  to  redemption  with  this  legal  tender.  Why 
not  pay  them  off,  save  the  annual  interest,  and 
increase  commercial  enterprises  to  the  extent  of 
the  amount  of  the  circulating  medium  to  be  issued. 


91 

It  would  enhance  the  value  of  labor  proportion- 
ately as  the  circulating  medium  in  the  hands  of 
the  present  bond  holders  would  increase.  It 
would  enable  laboring  men  to  obtain  abundant 
employment. 

It  is  a  part  of  statesmanship  to  create  demand 
for  labor  "through  legislation"  in  an  indirect  way. 
The  guarantee  of  the  national  government  on  the 
bonds  being  considered  sufficient.  Why  not  also 
on  legal  tender  notes? 

Only  lunatics  will  deny  the  fact  that  the  com- 
merce of  the  country  solely  upon  a  gold  basis  is 
an  impossibility,  except  upon  the  destruction  of 
freedom  and  the  substitution  of  servitude  of  the 
people. 


[Written  by  Ignatius  Batory.] 

AN    AMERICAN     FINANCIAL     SYSTEM 

MUST  BE  HARMONIOUS,  JUDICIOUS 

AND   CONSEQUENTIAL. 


Harmonious  with  the  philosophy  and  intent  of 
our  American  Constitution  as  relating  to  the 
material  welfare  and  personal  rights  of  each  and 
every  one  of  our  citizens. 

Judicious  by  stimulating  trade,  commerce, 
industry  and  agriculture  without  permitting  some 
favored  ones  to  sponge  upon  the  economic 
branches  of  the  nation  through  the  agencies  of 
usury,  special  privileges,  combinations  and  trusts, 
and  so  forth. 

Consequential  by  preventing  the  circulating 
medium  by  indirect  means  from  obtaining  income 
or  profit  through  any  source  whatever,  excepting 
through  the  employment  of  labor  direct.' 

Without  the  above  essentials  no  financial 
arrangement  will  work  satisfactorily. 


[Written  by  Ig-natius  Batory,  February  22d,  1880.] 
191 0    AND    1920. 


All  railroads  will  be  condemned  and  paid  for  by 
the  respective  States  ;  no  more  public  securities 
will  be  emitted,  and  all  that  may  be  outstanding 
will  be  subject  to  taxation  ;  no  more  mortgages 
or  ground  rents  will  be  recorded  ;  no  more  debts 
will  be  collected  through  the  agencies  of  courts, 
as  all  business  transactions  will  be  considered  cash 
on  their  face  (in  law).  A  maximum  will  be  set 
for  the  ownership  of  real  estate  by  each  citizen. 

The  national  administration  will  issue  all  the 
silver  and  gold  coins,  but  no  paper  money.  The 
States  will  charter  State  banks  and  decide  upon  its 
guarantee,  if  coin  or  real  estate.  Import  duties 
will  be  collected  upon  the  principle  that  all  articles 
that  the  countr)-  can  produce  a  sufficiency  of  will 
be  lightly  protected,  and  all  articles  that  the  nation 
cannot  create  a  sufficiency  of  will  be  admitted 
free.  All  high  protective  tariffs  and  all  subsidizes 
will  be  forever  banished. 

Legislation  will  incessantly  aim  at  forcing  the 
circulating  medium  into  the  channels  of  trade, 
commerce  and  industry  by  preventing  its  employ- 
ment in  usurious  or  chartered  speculations.    Taxes 


94 

will  be  collected  in  a  direct  manner,  taxing  each 
citizen  in  proportion  to  his  possessions.  All 
charters  that  grant  monopolies  will  be  repealed  or 
condemned  and  paid  out  of  existence,  as  the 
right  of  suing  in  court  for  the  collection  of  debts 
will  be  abolished,  the  usury  laws  will  disappear, 
credit  will  be  based  on  honesty  instead,  as  at 
present,  based  on  property.  Bribery,  ballot-box 
stuffing  or  false  count  and  false  voting  will  be 
punished  like  arson  or  rape.  The  intelligence  of 
the  people  will  make  it  impossible  for  rough  and 
dishonest  men  to  obtain  public  positions  of  trust. 
The  meaning  of  the  words,  democrats  and  re- 
publicans, will  be  well  understood  as  being 
identical,  the  people  will  rally  upon  measures  and 
not  names. 


t 


[Written  l)>-  Ig-uatius  Batory.j 

THE  FRUIT  IS  RIPKXIXG  ;   IT  WILL  SOON 
FALL  INTO  THE  LAP  OF  SOCIETY! 


For  half  a  centur}-  in  vain  did  I  try  to  enlighten 
fellow  men  in  relation  to  the  iniquitous  system  of 
finances  and  its  uses.  In  vain  did  I  make  the 
effort  to  prove  to  fellow-men  the  cause  of  his 
poverty  on  one  hand  and  tlic  concentration  of 
immense  wealth  on  the  other  hand.  In  vain  did 
I  try  to  convince  fellovv-men  that  our  form  of 
government  does  fully  warrant  his  prosperity. 

In  \ain  did  I  try  to  make  fellow-men  see  the 
roots  that  cause  his  poverty  and  debasement.  But 
they  could  not  see  !  In  vain  did  I  speak  the 
words  of  plain  reason  ;  the  seed  fell  in  untilled 
ground.  But  the  evil  will  soon  remedy  itself! 
For  necessity  is  a  great  teacher 


[Written  by  Ignatius  Batory.] 

THE  END. 


I  love  humanity  not  for  its  being  human,  but 
for  its  being  subHmely  created,  by  a  sublime 
power  and  for  sublime  purposes,  that  centres  in 
generosity  and  love  that  will  ultimately  culminate 
in  the  happiness  of  all  !  For  such  is  the  intention 
of  our  Maker  as  exemplified  by  the  powers  of 
thought,  feeling  and  conscience  implanted  in 
mortals. 


I  N  DK 


Introductory 1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8 

Preface 9,  10,  11,  12 

Discussion  of  the  financial  question  by  the  author  in 

the  year  1868 .13,  11,  15,  16,  17,  IS 

Continuation  of  the  discussion  and  the  remcd}-, 

19,  20,  21,  22,  23,  24,  25,  26,  27,  28,  29 
The  People's  Party  and  its  mission.. .30,  31,  32,  33,  34,  35,  3') 
The  identity  of  interest  of  all  those  whose  occupation 
is  Agriculture,  Industry,  Commerce  and  Mental  and 

Physical  Labor 37,  38,  39,  40,  41,  42 

Our  soul  has  penetrated  the  yet  hidden  future. . .  .43,  44,  45 
Aspirations  of  individuals  when  disinterested,  are  the 

mainsprings  of  Civilization 4G 

Demand  and  Supply  the  subterfuge  of  ignorant  legis- 
lators   47,  48,  49,  50,  51 

Our  financial   system  a  failure,  because   it   lacks   the 
State's  Philosophical  and  State's  Economical  virtues, 

52,  53,  54 
The  irrepressible  conflict  for  the  division  of  the  sur- 
plus earnings  of  the  nation 55,  56,  57,  58 

The  two  monsters  that  enslave  the  many  to  the  few..  .59,  60 

High  Tariff  or  Free  Trade 61 

Communism,  Socialism  and  Single  Tax 62,  63 

Shall  it  be  a  common  family  V     Co-operative  and  mu- 
tual ;  or  shall  it  be  individuality  and  self  interest, 

64,  65,  66 

Remedying  the  future  and  not  the  past 67 

It  is  easier  to  level  society  down  than  to  elevate  it. . .     68 

True  and  false  convictions 69 

Guard  against  a  landed  aristocracy 69,  70 

It  is  but  tlie  urbaric  system  of  tlie  past,  renewed  in  an 


indirect  way 70,  71, 


70 


Why  there  is  a  periodical  groan  of  distress 73,  74 

Truthful  and  instructive  informatiom  worth  knowing, 

75,  76,  77,  78,  79 
The  silver  question  a  means  to  confound  the  people.  .80,  81 
Pan-American  Congress  to  recoin  gold  and  silver  coins, 

to  obtain  equalization 82,  83,  84 

Legal  tender  money  and  its  possibilities  for  the  people, 

85,  86,  87,  88 
The  wealthy  arrogate  powers  beyond  the  Constitution, 

under  plausible,  but  false  pretenses 89,90,91 

An  American  financial  system  must  be  harmonious, 

judicious  and  consequential 92 

Solution  of  the  Problem 93,  94 

Necessity  a  great  teacher 95 

The  End 90 


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